Healthy Freezer Friendly Meals {Alexia Foods Giveaway!}

Between family gatherings, school events, holiday parties and shopping – some days it is nearly impossible to get a healthy dinner on the table.  During this hectic but wonderful time of year, it is even more important to fill our bodies with the nutrients and energy it requires.Stocking the freezer with nutritious, ready-to-go meals is one of the best ways to get ahead this busy time of year.  As an Official Tastemaker, I am thrilled to be partnering with Alexia Foods to share a few shortcuts to make the task even easier.  The secret weapon in my Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup is Alexia’s Italian Saute – a basil infused mix of potatoes, beans, spinach and tomatoes that is cooked in 100% olive oil.

3 Tips for Freezing Food:

• Cool Food Quickly: To avoid leaving food in the temperature danger zone, ladle warm soup into a resealable plastic bag and quickly immerse into ice bath.  Within minutes, the soup will cool and you can pop it in the freezer.
• Freeze Flat: By freezing soup in a plastic bag, you can lay it flat in the freezer which in turn takes up less space.  And now you have more room for ice cream…or…whatever.
• Brighten Flavor Before Serving: A bit of chopped parsley, shaved parmesan or fresh basil is a great way to brighten the flavor of a freezer dish before serving.

As an official Alexia Tastemaker, I’m thrilled to share an exlusive coupon just for YOU, my readers.  Hurry – valid only until December 31st, 2012.

Giveaway: {Giveaway Closed! Congratulations to Addie, Number 17!!)  One (1) Winner will receive an Alexia Foods gift basket full of kitchen gadgets, a branded cutting board, reusable tote bag, a coupon for free product and more!

To Enter {Required}:

1. Create a “Freezer Friendly Meals” Pinterest board and pin a minimum of 5 recipes.
2. Leave a comment below with a link to your Pinterest board.

For Additional Entries (must be a separate comment for each):

• Follow me on Twitter
• Subscribe to my RSS feed or free email updates
• Like me on Facebook
• Follow me on Pinterest
• Tweet about the giveaway: “Just entered to win an Alexia prize package from @thelemonbowl http://thelemonbowl.com/?p=3121 #herestofood”
• Like Alexia on Facebook

Giveaway ends at Midnight EST on Sunday, December 2^nd and Winner will be announced on Monday, December 3^rd and Alexia will mail the prize.

Disclaimer: Winner will be contacted via the email address used to leave a comment on this blog post. Winner will have 48 hours to respond before another winner is chosen. Open to US residents over the age of 18 only. This giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook in any way. No purchase necessary to enter. As an Official Alexia Tastemaker, I am honored to be in a paid partnership with Alexia Foods. As always, all thoughts are my own.

Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup

 

Author: Liz DellaCroce | The Lemon Bowl

Nutrition Information

• Serves: 8

• Serving size: 8 oz
• Calories: 174

• Fat: 7.3 g
• Saturated fat: 1.2 g
• Unsaturated fat: 6.1 g
• Trans fat: 0
• Carbohydrates: 17.6 g
• Sugar: 2.8 g
• Sodium: 459 mg
• Fiber: 3.6 g
• Protein: 10.1 g
• Cholesterol: 16 mg

Recipe type: Soup

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  20 mins

Total time:  30 mins

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Sweet Italian sausage pairs with red skin potatoes, white beans and leafy kale for a hearty and comforting soup.

Ingredients

• 1 bag Alexia Foods Italian Saute
• 2 Italian turkey sausage links – casings removed
• 1 carrot – diced
• 3 cloves garlic – minced
• ½ teaspoon chili flakes – optional
• 8 cups chicken broth – low sodium
• 15 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 6 cups kale (or other leafy greens)
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Heat a large soup pot over medium high and add basil-infused olive oil packet included with Alexia Italian Saute, reserving vegetables.
2. Add sausage to the pan (casings removed) and use a wooden spoon to break down into crumbles. Cook until sausage is browned then remove from pan and set aside.
3. In the same pan, saute diced carrots until soft, about 2-3 minutes, then garlic and chili flakes and cook 30 additional seconds to release flavors before adding potato/bean mixture. Saute potatoes and carrots for 7-8 minutes then add sausage back to the pot.
4. Pour in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add tomatoes, kale and salt/pepper to taste.
5. Simmer until kale is wilted, about 5 minutes. Check for seasoning then remove from heat.
6. Serve immediately or see above for freezing instructions to enjoy later.

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