This post is in collaboration with Balance Your Plate and Stouffer’s. As part of the collaboration, I received product and incentives in exchange for participating in the program.
With the holidays coming up, our plates are going to be full of sweets and treats. It can be hard to get a good nutritious meal on the table with all of the hustle and bustle. That’s why I love taking advantage of nutritious frozen food options. It’s a great way to get a delicious meal on the table fast.
I’ve teamed up with Nestlé to help get the word out about their Balance your Plate initiative to help families use frozen food to make an easy and nutritious meal along with fresh foods.
I love making the Stouffer’s Family Size Lasagna with Meat & Sauce. Making a lasagna from scratch takes a lot of time that I just don’t have. I made one once and I will never do that again since I discovered the Stouffer’s variety. It tastes just as good as the one I made from scratch, if not better, and saves me a ton of time.
Stouffer’s uses fresh ingredients to make their lasagnas and you can really tell. It’s delicious! Plus, you get 16 grams of protein per serving!
To balance my plate, I love making a side salad to go with my lasagna. I got tired of having the same old side salad and I really wanted to up the nutrient level of my meal so I decided to give kale a shot.
I’m not a huge fan of kale, I wish I was, but I figured if I made a great dressing that it could help make it more bearable.
This kale and chickpea recipe really impressed me. This salad turned out to be delicious! After we started eating it, my fiancé added some mandarin orange slices and it really enhanced all of the flavors so we will be adding oranges to this salad from now on.
You can use any kind of kale or dark greens to make this salad. It is best made with baby kale. My store didn’t have baby kale, they only had the Dinosaur variety.
If you use the Dinosaur kale, make sure that you remove any hard stems and to chop up the leaves. I let the greens marinate in the dressing for about an hour so that it would soften up the leaves and make them less chewy.
Ingredients:
For the chickpeas:
- 1 can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
- 1 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
For the salad:
- 1 5oz. bag of Kale or baby Kale
- 1 Tbs. lemon juice
- 3 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/8 tsp. pepper
- 1/2 cup of Feta cheese
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- Place rinsed chickpeas on the baking sheet and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast 10-12 minutes until chickpeas are lightly shrunken and crispy. Stir half way through the cooking time. Let cool.
- In a large bowl combine the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, and salt & pepper. Add kale and toss until evenly coated. If you are using baby kale, you can serve it right away. If you are using regular kale, let it marinate in the dressing for about 30-45 min. to soften.
- Right before serving top with roasted chickpeas and Feta cheese.
This kale and chickpea salad recipe can serve about 4 people. It is a great addition to your Stouffer’s Family Size Lasagna with Meat & Sauce. It’s also a great way to get the kids to eat their greens. Have a glass of wine and some fruit for dessert and you have a well rounded meal.
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