Italian Sausage Soup
Cooking Light mag., 2004

This soup has that simmered-all-day flavor but takes just minutes to prepare. Serve it with hot crusty bread.

8 oz. hot or sweet turkey Italian sausage
2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes w/basil, garlic and oregano
1/2 cup uncooked small shell pasta
2 cups bagged baby spinach leaves
2 T. fresh grated Parm. or Romano cheese
2 T. chopped fresh basil

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Remove casings from sausage. Add sausage to pan, and cook for about 5 minutes or until brown, stirring to crumble. Drain, return to pan.
2. Add broth, tomatoes and pasta to the pan, and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 8-10 minutes, or until pasta is done. Remove from heat, stir in spinach until wilted. Sprinkle each serving with cheese and basil.

Serves 4. Serving size, 1 1/3 cups soup, 1 1/2 t. cheese and 1 1/2 t. basil

5 WW pts
Calories: 216 (30% from fat); Fat 7.1 g; Protein 17.4 g; Carb. 20 g; Fiber 1.6 g; Chol 52 mg; Iron 3.2 mg; Sodium, 1,020 mg; Calc 153 mg.

I live in the South… we love our BBQ. I in particular LOVE BBQ! We go out a couple times a month for barbeque, but I never know just how many points to count since I can’t tell always just how lean the meat is, what is in the sauce, etc. And when we go out… we tend to get hushpuppies, sweet tea, sweet potato fries, etc. Yikes! (but delicious!) So I came up with what has turned out to be “the best” BBQ I’ve ever eaten… and my husband agrees! We live in North Carolina, so the sauce tastes like good ol’ NC BBQ sauce — vinegar-based, sweet and spicy. Yum! But you could always make this and add on a thicker, ketchup-based sauce if that’s what you like after it’s done when you serve it up. I’ve made this twice now, and the recipe is “ad lib” since it’s our family’s BBQ sauce that we’ve never written down…. until now I guess It’s also for Crock Pot which I think is fabulous since you can put it together in 5 minutes and have dinner ready when you get home from work. I totally recommend trying this ASAP! It’s so good and can usually be made from what you have on hand. We eat it with or without a bun with some baked sweet potato fries and something green. Yum-O!

BBQ Pork Tenderloin:

Place defrosted, lean pork tenderloin, devoid of any fat or shiny skin, into a Crock Pot. I typically cook 1-2 pound tenderloins at a time.

Sauce (may double, triple, etc. based on how much meat you have… I usually double it and have leftover):
3/4 c apple cider vinegar
4-5 Tbsp white sugar
4-5 generous Tbsp ketchup
2 squirts yellow mustard
2 shakes worcestershire sauce
Fresh ground black pepper to taste

* Wisk ingredients together in a bowl.
* Pour on top of pork.
* Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 6 hours. (Really, you can cook it as long as you want… I’ve cooked mine as long as 12 hours on low when I had a long day at work, and it still tasted great!)
* When done, use two forks to pull apart meat to have shredded BBQ… it falls apart! Serve with or without buns.

This is just so good! Try it and let me know what you think! I usually count points for this just for the meat + 1 point for the sauce (given the sugar, ketchup), but since the sauce is vinegar based and is so thin, it’s really not too many points at all! The pork tenderloin is 1 pt per 1 oz…. that’s awesome!

I love, love, LOVE muffins for breakfast! I’ve been looking for a healthy muffin recipe for a LONG time, and the best I came up with had like 3.5 points per muffin and took a long time to make (See Morning Glory Muffins under recipes category for recipe). They are DELICIOUS, but a little too time consuming for everyday life. Well, FiberOne muffin mix… you and I are BFF. I bought one of these FiberOne mixes (Apple Cinnamon variety is all they make) at Super Target this weekend, and I remembered that Hungry Girl had a great idea for transforming them from 4pt whoppers into 1pt treats So I made them… and they were… DELICIOUS I recommend trying this if you like muffins and have access to the mix. Here’s the HG low down:
http://www.hungry-girl.com/askhg/askhgdetails.php?isid=1350

I can’t wait to have one or two with coffee, fruit, and yogurt in the morning for a filling breakfast!

I had LOTS of requests for this soup from my husband.  Each week when we went to Trader Joe’s, he would pick up the 17 Bean mixed bag and say, “Hey Jen… can you make this for us?” and each time I’d say “Sure but I’ve already meal planned for the week!  Let’s do it later, okay?”  Truthfully, I’m not a big fan of “hodge podge mish-mash” kinds of meals where everything is in one package (like chicken pot pie or simple things like this bean soup where there are too many beans to keep my type A personally in check!)  However, this week, I knew I would be working late, and Ben would be going away next week for a medical mission training in Trinidad, so I made it!  And boy, was my head hung in shame… it was great!  And super healthy!  Based on nutrtional information for the beans and the fact that the only other ingredients are tomatos, celery, onion, and carrots with some broth… I’m estimating 2 points for 1 cup of soup.  Does that sound too low to y’all?  Here’s the recipe:

17 Bean & Barley Soup from Trader Joe’s

2 cups 17 bean and barley soup mix (just 16oz dried beans, if you don’t have a Trader Joe’s)
2 - 32oz containers of vegetable broth (I used Reduced Sodium Chicken Stock)
1 cup onion chopped
1 cup celery chopped
1 cup carrot chopped
1 cup bell pepper chopped  (I forgot to buy one, and mine was still great!)
1 tsp dried basil
1 clove garlic minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp italian seasoning (I added a mix of oregano, basil, garlic pepper since I didn’t have a premixed seasoning)
1 - 28oz can diced canned tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste

Soak beans overnight in a large pot of water, then rinse and drain. Pour 4 cups of broth into a pot with the beans. In a separate pan, cook onion, celery, carrot, pepper, basil and garilc in olive oil until soft. Combine this mixture and remaining ingredients into the bean pot and cover with more broth. Simmer covered for about 1 hour to desired tenderness. Be sure to occasionally check the liquid level and add more broth if necessary. Salt and pepper to desired taste. Makes about 8 hearty servings. 

Yum-O… I love having time off from work to actually cook real meals! I spent about 30 minutes just now perusing cookbooks (WW ones and Robin Miller… love her!) and magazines (WW and Cooking Light) for ideas. Here’s my plan:

1. Pretzel-coated chicken tenders with sweet potato fries and fresh green beans
2. Mushroom couscous with some of the tenders added in, leftover veggies
3. Chicken tender salad with balsamic dressing
4. White bean chicken chili with salad

That should keep me settled for the next few days! I love being able to morph a main dish or side into future meals… saves so much time! Robin Miller is great about it, and her cookbooks are always super healthy (although she doesn’t include nutrition info…) since she was first a nutritionist before she became a FoodTV star haha

What are YOU cooking for dinner tonight?

I love “breakfast breads,” so I went on a hunt for a healthy, delicious, filling muffin recipe. With my spare time these two weeks, I was looking forward to some experimenting in the kitchen… but I will look no further! These muffins are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! Filled with carrots, raisins, apple, coconut, walnuts, pineapple… YUM! Recipe makes 24 large muffins, for exactly 3.5 points each. You need to make these!!!

I’m thinking about re-writing the recipe to be about 2 points each using substitutes for the egg/oil/sugar and using whole wheat flour in place of all-purpose. This is, of course, only to allow myself the pleasure of eating TWO at once instead of one If you have suggestions for doing this, pass them along!

My only “change” to the recipe was to use walnuts in place of pecans because that’s what I had on hand. I also forgot the vanilla (!) but they still were great.

Recipe:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=223159

So for those days that you “just have to have SOMETHING,” I’ve started reaching for something to drink rather than cookies or chips… my old favorites!  While I enjoy a cup of FF Hot Chocolate for 1pt, I am trying to minimize points as much as possible on “wasted” food items.  Hence, hot tea!  This particular one, Celestial Seasonings Orange Tangerine Zinger, is a-m-a-z-i-n-g!  It’s very flavorful, a bit tangy, and super sweet… all for 0 points! And since it’s calorie and caffeine free, it also counts for daily water intake.  Check it out, and let me know… what do YOU reach for when you’re starving?

For me, Sunday is a welcomed treat to reflect on the past week and gear up for another great one.  Although I was busy with much studying for medical exams, dinner with the husband’s boss on Saturday night, and a baby shower this afternoon, I was still able to go to church, clean, grocery shop, and cook ahead for a fabulous week to come.   One recipe that I made was quickly gobbled up by myself AND my husband… so it’s a keeper!  It’s the Black Bean Soup I mentioned earlier in the weekend.  Here’s a sketch of the recipe, also taken loosely from WW “15 minutes, 5 ingredient” magazine cookbook:

Black Bean Soup

• 2 (14oz?) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (14oz?) can RF, RS chicken or beef broth
• 3/4 cup medium salsa
• 1-2 Tbsp chili powder
• S & P

In a 4Q pot, add one can of black beans and mash them up with a fork.  Then add the remainining ingredients.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for 5 minutes.  Serve!  Serving size: 1 1/4 cup for 3 points.  Can add some RF cheese and cilantro for an additional 1 point if you do it right

This soup was delicious and quite filling.  We ate it yesterday with just an apple for a side and then again today for lunch with a simple sandwich.  Delish!  I’ll be making this again next weekend, especially since it’s composed of the things I already have on hand in the cabinet!

<> Daily food diary to come…

After the grocery store adventure, I made this delicious dip for fresh veggies or my new Ak Mak crackers (or Wasa would be good, too) from the new Weight Watchers “5 ingredient, 15 minute” magazine cookbook on the grocery store checkout aisle. It’s super, deceptively healthy and really hits the spot when you have to have SOMETHING to dip those baby carrots into! Recipe below, picture to come…

Artichoke Pesto Dip:

• 2 (14oz) cans artichoke hearts, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup (2oz) grated Parmasean cheese (I used 1/3 Less Fat because that’s all I had…)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tsp grated fresh lemon rind
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp salt

Place artichokes in food processor; pulse 5 times until finely chopped. Add chese and remaining ingredients; pulse to combine. Serve immediately or chill until ready to serve. Yield: 9 servings (1/4 cup each).

Calories 59, Fat 3.3g (2.2 for me!), Fiber 0.8g –> 1 point