My son and I thought it might be fun to start the celebration this weekend with an Italian Night surprise for her! We headed to Sam's Club to see what we could find while she was in school. After searching through multiple options, we decided on the Lean Cuisine Italian 4-pack! It had Spaghetti and Meatballs that the kids would like and Chicken Parmesan for the adults. Part of my New Year's resolutions are to eat healthier and these are 300 calories or less per package! That is great! And for the new price of $6.98 for a 4-pack you can't resist! Great price and great quality food!
For the surprise dinner, we decided to make the Lean Cuisine Italian meals and include a homemade Italian side dish to go with it. Of course I asked my husband what would go best with these meals, and he helped me create a Garlic Garbanzo Salad as a nice, light, and healthy side. Our theme of the meal besides Italian is "Healthy Eating!" With the salad, dinner, and dessert, my entire meal came to 570 calories, which is awesome! Check out the recipe below to see how to create the Garlic Garbanzo Salad.
- 2 - 15½ oz. cans of Garbanzo Beans
- 1 - Small Red Onion
- 1 - Small Red Pepper
- 2 - Small Cloves of Garlic
- 1 - Lemon
- 2 Tbs. Olive Oil
- 2 Tbs. Balsamic Vinegar
- Salt and Pepper to Taste
- Finely dice red onion and red pepper, and set to the side
- Finely dice garlic, add olive oil, and saute in saucepan over medium low heat until lightly browned (about 3 min)
- Open, drain, and rinse Garbanzo beans using a strainer
- Mix onion, peppers, garlic w/ oil and beans in a large bowl
- Squeeze lemon on top
- Add in 2 tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Serve
The entire meal was delicious, healthy, and we spent some quality family time talking about Italy. My husband was telling my daughter about why the foods we chose were important in Italian culture, and he even tried to speak with some Italian flare as his grandparents sounded. She thought that was cool and wished we had Italian accents. My husband and I have been to Italy together twice. We hope to take the kids there one day! We would love to show them around the sites and see the way the Italians live. Our favorite part was that they seemed to shop daily for fresh foods and ingredients at the local markets. They could even walk to the markets from their houses. We loved that!
Here you can see our plated dinner. The kids enjoyed the Spaghetti and Meatballs and we had the Chicken Parmesan with our side Garlic Garbanzo Salad. For dessert we had the Skinny Cow ice cream! YUM! And like I said, our meal total was 570 calories! You can’t beat that!
Lean Cuisine Spaghetti & Meatballs ~ You can see the flavor!
Lean Cuisine Chicken Parmesan & Garlic Garbanzo Salad ~ Healthy & Tasty!
And Don’t Forget the Skinny Cow Ice Cream for Dessert!
So now we’ve learned a little about Italian cuisine with yummy Lean Cuisine Italian meals, and next we’ll have to see what to get for an Estonian meal for my daughter. I will need to dig up my grandmother’s recipes.
Make sure to check out Sam’s Club! The new prices for January – February are: Skinny Cow: $8.98 (was $9.98), LC Italian 4-pk: $6.98 (was $7.98), LC Asian 6-pk: $9.98 (was $11.25) ~ Great prices! Go and purchase them today for these GREAT DEALS!
Make sure to check out Lean Cuisine and Skinny Cow:
- TWITTER – @LeanCuisine, @TheSkinnyCow
- FACEBOOK – Lean Cuisine, Skinny Cow
I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Nestle Lean Cuisine and Skinny Cow #cbias #SocialFabric. All opinions are mine and mine alone.
I love Lean Cuisine meals, they are always delicious and you never feel guilty after. If my family asks, I have never had Skinny Cow (I hide it from them so I do not have to share, I figure I am entitled to one thing all my own, lol). I can not wait to try that Garbanzo bean salad, it looks delicious. I love that you are teaching your children about their heritage, my parents never would and now I am trying to research to find what I can.
That all looks so good and super easy considering how may ingredients there are!! I love that you were able to tie heritage into it!! I am pinning that salad recipe! I love it!
Sounds like the perfect lunch. Thanks for the recipe!
Looks like a fun way to do a school project! And skinny cow desserts are perfect! Great job!
The Garbanzo bean salad looks so good and a great addition to any meal. I keep seeing posts about Skinny Cow ice cream, I’m going to have to give them a try.
I love Skinny Cow meals. They are truly delicious! Love your side- I am a big bean girl! Looks yummy!
Looks colorful and healthy. Wish we could by bulk packs of the lean cuisine here
Delish! I love garbanzo beans!
DIdn’t know Lean Cuisine made these dishes–I will have to check them out. I love the skinny cow brand too—don’t buy too often as I would eat it more often and then be gulity totally LOL. great pictures! nice posting–thanks for sharing
Love the project and the beautiful photos (and field trip to Sam’s)! I’ve always loved Lean Cuisine and have to get my act together and try Skinny Cow. Thanks for the Garbanzo Salad recipe! Beautiful all around…
a 4 pack is a great idea! and I would love to have one of those skinny cow sandwiches right now! and it’s only 9am! lol
I love that you used your heritage as a way to educate your daughter at the same time. That is so neat, great blog post.
Everything looks great. I have to try Skinny Cow. In fact, I think I might put it on my shopping list now, before I forget…again!
This post made me hungry! Everthing looks delicious. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Looks DELISH!! And I have to say, you have the cutest daughter!!!
That looks delicious!! With meals like that, it really makes eating healthy alot easier!!
OMG! Can’t wait to try! Your daughter is beautiful and looks just like you- I LOVE seeing parents in children (my brothers are adopted, but look like our Dad- since then, I became sort of obsessed with finding similarities)!
I LOVE Lean Cuisine and Skinny Cows! Perfect dinner! lol. I love the flavors and variety they offer. And that salad you made? My husband would love it!
Thanks for sharing the recipe! It looks so good! I am going to try this out for sure!
That salad looks amazing … and you had me at Skinny Cow ice cream 🙂
So easy and delicious! Thanks for sharing! Yum!
ok that salad looks really, really yummy!!! Thank you for sharing!
That whole meal looks delicious. I love Lean Cuisine and especially Skinny Cow.
O.K., now I’m hungry!! The recipe looks great! Thanks!
I love Lean Cuisine, too! I haven’t tried the chicken parm. I’ll have to pick some up from Sam’s! Thanks!
Love a new high protein, easy to make recipe – I’m going to try the chick pea salad!
When we were growing up, my sister decided for International Day to bring in lasagna, for her native dish. Except that we’re Irish and Polish. She just didn’t want to make either of those types of dishes. Denying your heritage for better food – sometimes it must be done!
It is hard to talk about food when so many photos has your lovely little clone in them – and now I want Italian food too!
This salad is so fabulous and healthy! I can’t wait to try it. Great combo! And dessert!
That garlic garbanzo salad looks so good — and good for you. Both my husband and I would love it.
How cool! I love that your daughter is interested in her heritage! That salad is beautiful! I had no idea that lean cuisine came in those 4 packs
I hope my daughter is interested in her heritage as well! I love garbanzo beans so I’ll definitely be trying your recipe.
Looks good! I love to make the garbanzo salad whenever I can!
What a fun project! The garbanzo salad looks so yummy, thx for the recipe!
I loooooooooove garbanzo beans! And this recipe is so simple to whip up any time. On the list it goes =) ps. Your kids are so lucky for all the fun stuff you plan for them!
Sam’s Club always has great prices! Brian and I just joined a few months ago. I remember I used to love learning about my Portuguese, Irish and Polish heritage when I was in school. Now that I’m older I want to actually GO to those places! Great post!
This looks absolutely DELICIOUS – not like your typical frozen dinner AT ALL! So fun to bring in the Italian Heritage!
That garbanzo salad looks absolutely yum esp since I love garbanzo!!!
I don’t think we’ve ever tried any Skinny Cow products before. Garbanzo beans are so good and that salad looks like something my family and I would love to make. Thanks for sharing. Your daughter is super adorable.