Tomato

Filed Under: 5 PointsPlus, Soups, Stews & Chilis, Vegetarian Tagged With: Bulgur, Lemon, Lentil, Tomato

Pasta Salad with Blue Cheese, Walnuts and Arugula

I’ve been meaning to post this delicious recipe for Pasta Salad with Blue Cheese, Walnuts, and Arugula, which made the cover of a recent Weight Watchers Weekly, for a while now. As soon as I saw it I had a feeling I would love it. Filled with many of my favorite ingredients (pasta, arugula, blue cheese, grape tomatoes and walnuts), this is everything I want in a salad – easy to make, pretty to look at, and delicious to eat.

Weight Watchers Pasta Arugula Salad

And I was right. Fresh and delicious, I have a feeling this Pasta Salad with Blue Cheese, Walnuts and Arugula will become a lunch and dinner staple for me this spring and summer. It is such a great reminder of how tasty and satisfying salads you make yourself at home can be when you get creative and show them a little love. This recipe is definitely a keeper in my book.

I made a couple of minor changes, substituting chopped scallions for the chives and using spiral pasta (fusilli) instead of bowties (farfalle). A little chopped cooked chicken or turkey would be a nice addition too.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: 7 PointsPlus, Easy Healthy, Pasta, Salads Tagged With: Arugula, Blue Cheese, Pasta Salad, Tomato, Walnut

Weight Watchers Italian Beef and Lentil Slow Cooker Stew

Weight Watchers Beef and Lentil Slow Cooker Stew

I’m all about maximum reward for minimal effort and this Weight Watchers Italian Beef and Lentil Slow Cooker Stew really delivers. Featured in a recent Weight Watchers Weekly, several people recently have commented on delicious it is. After hearing more than a half-dozen endorsements I knew it was time to see and taste for myself.

Yes, they were right. This Italian Beef and Lentil Slow Cooker Stew is delicious, especially when you consider just how simple it is.

I made only a few minor adjustments to the original recipe: substituting 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning for 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano and adding the diced zucchini during the last hour of cooking to prevent it from getting too mushy.

We enjoyed this tasty soup, along with some crusty bread, for a late supper last night after picking Mom up from the airport. She, Rod and I all gave it a thumbs up. Described in the Weekly as a “wonderful winter warmer,” Mom said it was, “Light enough to be enjoyed almost any time of year.”

As the recipe explains, you could substitute, 2 cups of fresh green beans, cut into 2-inch lengths, for the zucchini. I think a few chopped carrots would also be nice.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: 5 PointsPlus, Beef, Slow Cooker, Soups, Stews & Chilis Tagged With: Beef, Lentil, Tomato, Zucchini

Shredded Cabbage Soup

Shredded Cabbage Soup

Here’s a simple cabbage soup that is perfect when you want a nourishing way to compensate after several days of overindulgence, which is exactly what I want to do after spending 3 fun-filled days in Portland exploring the city, visiting with friends and eating and drinking way more than I’m used to.

I enjoyed every minute of our time away. But now I’m ready to ease off the heavy eating for a few days.

A pot of of homemade soup, such as this shredded cabbage soup, is my go-to solution. It’s simple and satisfying. Hearty but not heavy, with the ability to fill you for relatively few PointsPlus.

This shredded cabbage soup, is a Russian soup recipe from the Betty Crocker New International Cookbook (1989). To make it a little more Weight Watchers friendly, I used less oil and topped mine with plain nonfat Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.

Enjoy!
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Filed Under: 4 PointsPlus, Soups, Stews & Chilis Tagged With: Cabbage, Carrot, Potato, Tomato

{38 Power Foods} Curried Sweet Potatoes with Green Peas

Curried Sweet Potatoes with Green Peas

Here’s a quick and easy dish packed with power foods. Sweet potato, green peas, and tomatoes cooked with curry powder until heated through and then sprinkled with cilantro. What could be easier? Or healthier?

I thought this was the perfect healthy dish to post for this week’s return of the 38 Power Foods blog group following our holiday hiatus. We’re now completed 2/3 of a project to cook our way through Power Foods: 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients (by Martha Stewart and the editors of Whole Living Magazine).

Health Benefits of Green Peas

Rod and I both love peas. But I’ve never really thought of them as a nutritional powerhouse. In the past, I’ve even felt a little guilty when eating them since they’re so starchy, sweet and delicious (especially with mashed potatoes).

So, imagine my delight when I discovered that in addition to being a great source of fiber, protein and Vitamin C, green peas are loaded with a host of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory phyto-nutrients. Now I have one more thing to feel good about as I begin 2013: My love of peas!

Curried Sweet Potatoes with Green Peas

With just 3 Weight Watchers PointsPlus per serving, this simple curried sweet potatoes with green peas is a 38 Power Foods winner. It’s 3 primary ingredients - sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and this week’s ingredient – peas – are all on the list. The recipe is from a great little cookbook, Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet, by Nava Atlas, which is full of quick, easy, healthy recipes made from common grocery store ingredients.

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Pizza Soup

Slow Cooker Pizza Soup

Here’s an easy, healthy and delicious soup that’s perfect for pizza lovers. In fact, it’s called “Pizza in a Bowl” in FIX-IT and FORGET-IT LIGHTLY: Healthy, Low-Fat Recipes for Your Slow Cooker, (the cookbook from which I adapted it slightly).

Made with your typical pizza ingredients – marinara sauce, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, onions and pepperoni (low fat turkey) and topped with cheese – it’s a great way to satisfy a pizza craving for far fewer PointsPlus.

I love soup, especially this time of year. And slow cooker soups like this can be a life saver when you want to serve nourishing meals, but have limited time to spend in the kitchen.

We really enjoyed this slow cooker pizza soup, so I’ll be making it again soon. Next time, I’m thinking about using cooked Italian style turkey sausage instead of the pepperoni.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: 6 PointsPlus, Slow Cooker, Soups, Stews & Chilis Tagged With: Tomato, Turkey Pepperoni

Weight Watchers Italian Arugula Salad

Weight Watchers Italian Arugula Salad

Peppery arugula, thinly sliced mushrooms, red onion and halved grape tomatoes tossed with a simple olive oil red wine vinegar dressing garnished with slivers of shaved Parmesan cheese. This is a great basic salad that complements so many dishes: pasta, pizza, sandwiches, soups, seafood, meats and more. It’s become a personal favorite here at our house since being featured in the Weight Watchers Weekly back in August (8/26-9/1/12).

(I made the salad and snapped a picture before adding the dressing a couple of hours before dinner while there was still enough light to get a decent shot.)

Loaded with Weight Watchers Power Foods, this Italian Arugula salad is a delicious way to boost your vegetable intake at lunch or dinner for minimal PointsPlus. To turn this salad into a heartier main dish meal you could add some chicken, tuna, salmon and/or chick peas.

I love the peppery taste of arugula, but if you don’t you could always use baby spinach or mesclun instead. A few sliced black olives make a tasty addition too.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: 3 PointsPlus, Salads, Vegetarian Tagged With: Arugula, Mushroom, Parmesan, Tomato

Creamy Chili-Corn Soup with Chicken and Black Beans

Creamy Corn Soup

The title of the recipe really says it all – creamy chili-corn soup with chicken and black beans. This easy, healthy and delicious soup stirs together in minutes making it perfect for a quick lunch or supper. The recipe is from The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great, by Pam Anderson. (Of all Pam’s cookbooks, this is one, brimming with light and healthy recipes that never sacrifice flavor or taste like “diet” food, is the one I use most often.)

Most of the rest of the country is well into soup season but here in Phoenix it’s barely beginning now that temperatures finally have dipped into the 80s.

I’m a soup lover who eats soup all throughout the year regardless of the weather, but this creamy chili-corn soup with chicken and black beans is thick and hearty so I think it tastes better in cooler weather.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: 7 PointsPlus, Chicken & Turkey, Soups, Stews & Chilis Tagged With: Black bean, Chicken, Corn, Tomato

Weight Watchers Skinny Cheese & Black Bean Nachos

Weight Watchers Cheese & Black Bean Nachos

When you’re craving nachos, here’s a yummy skinny option you: cheese and black bean nachos, from the Weight Watchers Power Foods cookbook (which is currently available at Weight Watchers Centers here in Arizona).

What makes these nachos lighter? Baked low-fat tortilla chips, reduced-fat monterey jack cheese, and a healthy dose of black beans instead of more fattening seasoned ground beef or chili.

Nachos have been a longtime family favorite since Mom began making them when I was a kid. She used canned chili and lots and lots of cheese back then. I thought they were delicious. Through the years I’ve eaten tons of nachos (both good and not-so good). My current favorites – super nachos from Richardon’s here in Phoenix – are hard to beat. Loaded with cheese, beans and chorizo, they’re certainly not what you would ever call Weight Watchers friendly.

Sometimes I want the flavor of nachos done lighter and healthier.

That’s where these Weight Watchers Skinny Cheese & Black Bean Nachos come in. They’re an easy, tasty and delicious lighter alternative that won’t weigh your down.

I made them for dinner recently when I was craving a nacho fix that wouldn’t blow the PointsPlus budget. I made a few changes to the recipe (as usual) which I’ve noted. Rod loved them too so I’ve added them to my recipe “favorites.”

Enjoy!

Filed Under: 5 PointsPlus, Appetizers, Mexican, Vegetarian Tagged With: Black bean, Cheese, Tomato

Easy Healthy Skinny Baked Eggplant Parmesan Melts

Easy Healthy Skinny Baked Eggplant Parmesan Melts

Slices of eggplant baked and then topped with sliced fresh tomatoes, diced mozzarella and grated Parmesan, baked again for a few minutes until melty, then topped with fresh basil. You get all the delicious flavors of eggplant parmesan with a lot less fat and calories. It’s much lighter, healthier, and easier than traditional eggplant parmesan too.

I feel like I’ve been on a bit of a “Parmesan” kick recently. Chicken Parmesan and Eggplant Parmesan are two of my all-time favorite dishes. A few weeks ago I made a yummy Weight Watchers version of Chicken Parmesan that was a huge hit.

The recipe for these easy healthy skinny baked eggplant Parmesan melts is another winner from 5 Easy Steps to Healthy Cooking: 500 Recipes for Lifelong Wellness by Camilla Saulsbury, which has turned out to be my most-used cookbook of the summer.

Serve with a simple green salad and crusty whole-grain bread for a deliciously light and healthy dinner.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: 4 PointsPlus, Dinner, Easy Healthy, Vegetables, Vegetarian Tagged With: Basil, Eggplant, Mozzarella, Tomato

{38 Power Foods} Weight Watchers Quick & Easy Chunky Gazpacho

By Martha McKinnon 7 Comments

Weight Watchers Easy Chunky Tomato Gazpacho

I love gazpacho, especially during the summer, but I don’t make it very often, probably because Rod’s not a fan, and if the quality of your tomatoes is anything less than terrific, the results can be disappointing.

That’s where this quick and easy chunky gazpacho comes in. I first heard about it during a meeting I was subbing, when our receptionist shared it with the group, but then it totally slipped my mind, until I came across it while thumbing through one of my latest cookbook acquisitions: the Weight Watchers PointsPlus Power Foods Cookbook. There it was right before my very eyes: the quick and easy chunky gazpacho recipe she’d mentioned.

I thought it would be perfect for this week’s 38 Power Foods Group ingredient: tomatoes.

Our little group continues to chug along on our mission to blog our way through the ingredients featured in Power Foods: 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients, by Martha Stewart and the editors of Whole Living Magazine. Other participating bloggers writing about tomatoes this week include:

What gives tomatoes their “power food” status?

Tomatoes contain lots of vitamin C and beta-carotene; as well as a good amount of iron, potassium, fiber, and B vitamins. But it’s the antioxidant, lycopene , that seems to provide the biggest health benefits. Because lycopene is located in the cell walls, you get more lycopene from processed or cooked tomatoes than you do from fresh ones.

So, while locally grown fresh tomatoes available at the peak of summer, will always be a healthy tasty choice, canned tomatoes (as well as tomato juice, tomato soup, tomato paste, spaghetti sauce, jarred salsa, and even ketchup) are delicious and healthy alternatives the rest of the year.

This quick and easy chunky gazpacho is a great example of just how yummy recipes made from canned tomatoes and tomato vegetable juice can be. I substituted Spicy V8 for low-sodium and skipped the jalapeno (because I didn’t have one). I also used sherry vinegar instead of balsamic, because I love it and it seemed more traditional, but I’m sure any vinegar would be fine.

Studies have shown the more often you eat soup , the more likely you are to lose weight because it helps you feel fuller on fewer calories. With just 1 Weight Watchers PointsPlus value per generous 1-1/2 cup serving, this is a great example of that research in action.

Enjoy!
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Filed Under: 1 PointsPlus, Easy Healthy, Soups, Stews & Chilis Tagged With: Tomato

Weight Watchers Tomato, Chicken and Feta Pasta

Quick & Easy Tomato Chicken Feta Pasta

A quick and easy pasta dish with tomatoes, chicken and feta that’s delicious warm or chilled. This tomato, chicken, and feta pasta is adapted from a recipe in Weight Watchers Our Best Quick & Easy Meals cookbook (which, by the way, is a treasure trove of ideas for getting dinner on the table in a dash), replacing a few of the ingredients with what I had on hand.

This Tomato, Chicken and Feta pasta is a great way to use up leftover rotisserie chicken, but I chopped up a piece of roasted sun-dried tomato turkey breast that I had in the fridge instead.

The original recipe called for 1 cup of dry pasta for 6 servings, which seemed a little scant to me, since I’m the only one in the family eating Weight Watchers-size portions. So, I doubled the amounts of pasta and diced tomatoes called for and created a dish with 7 PointsPlus value (PPV) that everyone really liked.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: 7 PointsPlus, Chicken & Turkey, Pasta Tagged With: Leftovers, Olive, Tomato

Barefoot Contessa Mustard Chicken Salad Makeover

Ina Garten’s Mustard Chicken Salad Made Lighter

Ina Garten’s Mustard Chicken Salad made lighter. As soon as I spotted this mustard chicken salad with broccoli and tomatoes in Ina’s book, Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That?: Fabulous Recipes & Easy Tips (Fabulous Recipes and Easy Tips), I knew I wanted to try it.

In the headnote, Ina says “This salad was a Barefoot Contessa staple for over twenty years.” How’s that for an endorsement?

I’m a huge fan of Garten’s recipes because they work and always turn out delicious. The only down side is that they tend to be high in fat and calories, so I often give them a makeover, lightening them up in ways that don’t diminish their deliciousness.

This is a great example. To make this mustard chicken salad Weight Watchers friendly I substituted much of the mayonnaise with plain nonfat Greek yogurt and went a little heavy on the 0 PointsPlus broccoli and tomatoes.

I opted to make a half batch, since her portions can be too large for our small family, and substituted sherry vinegar for tarragon vinegar and dried tarragon for fresh, since that’s what I had on hand. I also went a little light on the mustard to better accommodate Rod’s taste preferences. It worked. He gave this Barefoot Contessa Mustard Chicken Salad done my way two thumbs up.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: 5 PointsPlus, Chicken & Turkey, Salads Tagged With: Barefoot Contessa, Broccoli, Chicken Breast, Mustard, Tomato

Easy Weight Watchers Friendly Ratatouille Recipe

By Martha McKinnon 1 Comment

Easy Weight Watchers Friendly Ratatouille Recipe

I’ve got ratatouille on the brain. Not Ratatouille, the movie (thought it was delightful); Ratatouille the southern French vegetable dish that originated in Provence.

I crave it each summer when all the vegetables required to make it – eggplant, tomatoes, onion, bell peppers, and zucchini – are plentiful and full of flavor. It’s one of the most delicious ways I know to bump up my intake of 0 PointsPlus value fresh vegetables. (Ratatouille is naturally low in calories since its mostly vegetables.)

Just this morning I was thinking about it, putting together the ingredient list in my head, as I was making my way over to More Time at the Table and discovered Alyce’s post for version of ratatouille. How serendipitous is that?

You can use ratatouille so many ways. It’s a sensational side dish for chicken or fish, a tasty topping for toasted bread, pasta or polenta, and a fabulous filling for omelets and crepes. Or try it as a base for poaching eggs.

There are lots of different ratatouille recipes, some are roasted, some are baked and others are simmered on the stovetop, so feel free to make it whatever way suits you best.

This is an easy version from one of my favorite cookbooks of the moment – 5 Easy Steps to Healthy Cooking: 500 Recipes for Lifelong Wellness- that only uses 2 teaspoons of olive oil so it’s low fat and extra Weight Watchers friendly.

Enjoy!