Trader Joe's Lentil Soup With Ancient Grains

This was a surprising entry in the line-up of Trader Joe's perishable, refrigerated soups. Previously we've had the pea soup, vegetable soup with quinoa and kale, and chicken, barley, and vegetable soup. (I was alone on the last of those.) They had all been thrashed by the Blandification Committee.

This one, not so much.

In fact, its bold, powerful flavors presented something of a problem. For a dinner with Nina, I paired it with the Kung Pao Noodles, assuming that its blandness would offset what I anticipated to be some fire from the Chinese dish. But the soup was much spicier than I had guessed based on experience with its shelf-mates. Don't get me wrong--this is a good thing. It's easily the best of the bunch. It's just that my placement of it in a meal was misplaced, due to a justifiable but incorrect assumption.

The "ancient grains" in the name refers to amaranth, quinoa, flaxseed, and millet. But if you don't like any of those things, don't let that scare you. They're in such small proportions that I barely noticed them.

Will I buy it again? 

This is the first from this line of soups to which I can answer that with an enthusiastic "yes." I also liked the pea soup--though less than this one--but Nina didn't, so I would get that for myself but not for her. This one, though, I would happily serve to both of us again. I just have to be careful about what else is on the menu.

Nina's View

Cats and dogs lying down together! A rain of toads! Earth's rotation changing direction! Brace yourselves: the apocalypse is upon us.

How do I know this? Because I think that this product is way too peppery—Way. Too. Peppery.— and Bob does not. 

And, sadly, it's not an interestingly flavorful kind of pepperiness, but rather an overwhelming layer of straight-up black pepper. Which is a shame, because the soup itself is actually (I suspect) rather interesting in both flavor and texture.

I suppose it's possible that we just got an over-seasoned batch. I liked it enough to give it another chance.