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Asparagus Soup
Appetizers & SidesSoups, Stews, and Chowders

Asparagus Soup

by Rob

This soup is so easy to make, so tasty, and so healthy!

Print Recipe
 0 Weight Watchers Points per Serving (1 Point per 2 Servings)
Course Soup
Keyword asparagus, WW0
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Servings
Ingredients
Course Soup
Keyword asparagus, WW0
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Cut the woody ends from the asparagus and set aside. Cut the tips off the asparagus spears and set aside separately.
  2. Place stock in a large pot and raise temperature to medium heat. Add woody ends of asparagus to the pot. Heat for 20 minutes, then strain the woody ends from the stock and discard. Set asparagus-infused stock aside.
  3. Heat bacon grease and anchovy oil in large pot. Add grated garlic, stirring continuously, until fragrant.
  4. Add chopped asparagus pieces (not the tips!) to the pot and stir frequently to coat fully with sauteed garlic.
  5. Add asparagus-infused stock back to the pot. Raise heat to a boil, then lower to medium-low. Continue cooking until asparagus is softened, about 20 minutes.
  6. Working in batches, transfer asparagus and stock to a blender and puree. Return to pot, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
  7. Serve with raw asparagus tips. Store these separately to keep them from softening, since they provide a nice crunch to the soup.
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Chicken Chili
Soups, Stews, and Chowders

Chicken Chili

by Rob

I’m so glad I didn’t decide to make this as a white chicken chili. To do that, I would have had to leave out two of my favorite things in a chili: chilies (duh) and tomatoes. Besides being ridiculously healthy, it’s also pretty and very tasty.

I ground my own chicken from breast meat, leaving in the little bit of fat that came with them. It’s really negligible…something on the order of a 97%/3% mix, but I think it helps with the sizzle.

I also decided to try a quick prep of the dried mayocoba beans. Typically, they’re soaked overnight, then boiled for a long time to soften. I found that I can achieve the same results in 30 minutes using a pressure cooker and enough stock to cover the beans, plus a few inches. The beans weren’t totally soft, which is what I wanted: the cooking process in the chili would finish the job.

Also, in my recent penchant for shortcuts, I decided not to devote much time to the tomatoes, and instead went with the canned variety.

This is not a very spicy soup…it’s intended for normal people who don’t want their faces burned off by the heat.


Print Recipe


Chicken Chili

1 Weight Watchers point per bowl

Course Appetizer, Soup
Cuisine Mexican
Keyword chili, tomato, WW1

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes

Servings


Ingredients

Course Appetizer, Soup
Cuisine Mexican
Keyword chili, tomato, WW1

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes

Servings


Ingredients


Instructions
  1. Heat bacon in a large pot on medium heat until the fat starts to render. Add onion and saute for about 5 minutes. Add pepper and saute for another 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute while stirring continuously for 1 minute. Fold in spices and allow to cook for 1 more minute.

  2. Add ground chicken to the pot and stir in thoroughly. Continue stirring and breaking up large pieces until all sides are partly browned, a few minutes.

  3. Add tomatoes, scraping the bottom of the pot to loosen up bits of the chicken as needed.

  4. Add stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cook with cover off for 30 minutes or until reduced to desired consistency. Add salt as needed to taste.

  5. Serve with fat free Greek yogurt.

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Portabella Mushroom Soup
Appetizers & SidesSoups, Stews, and Chowders

Portabella Mushroom Soup

by Rob

When some people want to thicken a soup, they add flour or cornstarch. Others might add milk or cream. I prefer to add more of the main ingredient: I use probably double the amount of mushrooms here compared to what you’ll see in a “normal” recipe. The sheer volume makes the soup thick without adding anything that’s bad for you. Best of all, it adds even more mushroom flavor.

I went heavy on the garlic in this recipe because I wanted to be able to taste it. This is still a very mushroom-forward dish, but the roasted garlic notes are unmistakable. Use half as much garlic if you want the garlic to be more subtle.

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 Portabella Mushroom Soup
0 Weight Watchers points per 8 ounces.
Course Soup
Cuisine vegan, vegetarian
Keyword mushroom, WW0
Servings
Ingredients
Course Soup
Cuisine vegan, vegetarian
Keyword mushroom, WW0
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Scrape the veins on the underside of the portabella mushroom caps off and set mushroom caps aside. If you're making your own stock, add the scrapings to the stock mixture. If you're using store-bought stock, add the scrapings to the stock and heat for 30 minutes. Strain through a sieve to remove the particles, and set stock aside.
  2. Heat a large pot to medium heat. Add butter and grated garlic. Stir to coat, and add thyme. Heat for about a minute, stirring constantly, until slightly browned.
  3. Chop portabella mushrooms and all but 3 ounces of white mushrooms into chunks. Reserve the remaining white mushrooms - uncut - until later.
  4. Add mushroom chunks to the pot. Stir thoroughly to coat.
  5. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook for at least half an hour, stirring occasionally. Continue cooking and stirring until all the mushroom pieces are softened. This process extracts the moisture from the mushrooms and concentrates the flavor.
  6. Add stock to the pot and mix thoroughly. Cook for another half hour on medium heat.
  7. Pour soup into a blender, working in batches, and puree the soup. Return to the pot. Add salt and pepper, adjusting to taste.
  8. Cut remaining white mushrooms into thin slices. Ladle soup into bowl, and place a layer of mushroom slices on top of each bowl. Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes

Refer to How to Make a Stock to make your own stock for this recipe.

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Brussels Sprouts & Squash Soup
Appetizers & SidesSoups, Stews, and Chowders

Brussels Sprouts & Squash Soup

by Rob

The sweetness of the squash works nicely with the strong flavor of the Brussels sprouts. The squash is a natural thickener, creating a thick and creamy soup that is also completely healthy.

Print Recipe
 Brussels Sprouts & Squash Soup
1 Weight Watchers point per serving
Course Soup
Keyword Brussels sprouts, squash
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 1/2 hours
Servings
Ingredients
Course Soup
Keyword Brussels sprouts, squash
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 1/2 hours
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Cut acorn squash in half. Scoop out seeds. Place flesh side up on a baking sheet. Spray a few squirts of oil on the flesh, and dust with berbere.
  3. Cut stems from Brussels Sprouts. Cut each sprout in half. Spray a baking sheet with oil. Place sprouts - cut side up - on baking sheet. Squirt oil on sprouts, and dust with berbere.
  4. Place squash and sprouts in oven to bake. After 30 minutes, remove sprouts. Cut the larger pieces in half if desired and set aside. Reserve any crispy leaves that fall on the sheet as a finisher to the soup if desired (or just munch on them).
  5. While the squash cooks, add bacon pieces to a large pot on medium heat. Once the fat starts to render, add onion pieces to the pot. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add serrano pepper and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  6. After 15-20 more minutes - or until a fork easily pierces the flesh - remove squash from the oven. Cool if desired, then scoop flesh out.
  7. Stir miso paste into the pot with the onion and bacon. Cook for about 1 more minute, then add squash. Stir to coat with bacon and onion mixture.
  8. Add stock to the pot, and stir to remove any clumps. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium. Cook for another 30 minutes.
  9. Working in batches, puree the mixture from the pot in a blender, then return to the pot.
  10. Add Brussels sprouts to the soup in the pot. Stir to fully integrate, then serve. Add crispy Brussels sprouts leaves to the bowl as a finisher if desired.
Recipe Notes

Refer to How to Make a Stock to make your own stock for this recipe.

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How to Make a Stock
Cooking TechniquesSoups, Stews, and Chowders

How to Make a Stock

by Rob

 

 

I didn’t realize how wonderful it is to make your own stock. Besides adding a fantastic depth of flavor to whatever you use it for, stocks are easy to make and significantly cheaper than anything you can buy from the supermarket. All it will cost you is the price of a carrot, a piece of celery, half an onion, water, and seasonings for a basic stock.

With the foundation of a basic stock, you can customize the stock to be any kind of stock you want:

  • Add shrimp shells to make a shrimp stock.
  • Add a leftover chicken carcass (bones, meat, etc) to make a chicken stock.
  • Add the leftover parts of beef bones, meat, etc) to make a beef stock.
  • Add the scrapings from the gills of a portabella mushroom to make a mushroom stock.

Best of all, you can leave out salt completely if you need to control your sodium  intake, and make it fat-free if you trim the things you put in the pot well enough first.

Print Recipe
 How to Make a Stock
0 Weight Watchers points per cup
Course Soup
Keyword stock, WW0
Servings
Ingredients
Course Soup
Keyword stock, WW0
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Add all ingredients to a large pot and bring to a boil. Stir to make sure salt and seasonings are blended. If a specialized stock is being made, add those extra ingredients now (example: add chicken bones to the water).
  2. Lower the temperature to medium-low and cover pot. Simmer for 4 hours.
  3. Pour the stock through a sieve. Discard anything caught in the sieve (it will be tempting to try eating the vegetables, but the flavor has been leeched out of them during the simmer).
  4. Allow to cool, then place in containers to refrigerate. Use within 1 week. If a fatty stock was made (like chicken), skim the fat from the top of the containers and discard.
Recipe Notes

stock

 

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Corn Chowder
Soups, Stews, and Chowders

Corn Chowder

by Rob

This corn chowder (or, as my relatives in Massachusetts would say “chowdah”) manages to be thick, rich, and flavorful without being high in calories. Potatoes are replaced with rutabaga, and there is so much depth from the other ingredients that it doesn’t need cream or any other thickener.

Please note that I save the one thing that most people throw away when they chop celery: the leaves. This most underrated part of the most underrated vegetable adds an incredible amount of flavor when sprinkled on top of the chowder. It also works incredibly well for gumbo or anything else that uses celery.

Print Recipe
 Corn Chowder
1 Weight Watchers point per 9 ounces
Course Soup
Keyword chowder, corn, soup, WW1
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Servings
Ingredients
Course Soup
Keyword chowder, corn, soup, WW1
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. If you have corn on the cob, cut the kernels off the cobs and set aside. Add the cobs to the stock and heat on medium for at least half an hour. Remove cobs and discard.
  2. Cook bacon pieces in a large pot on medium heat. Once the fat starts to melt, add onion. Cook stirring frequently until onion turns translucent, about five minutes.
  3. Add thyme, and stir in. Add rutabaga and celery, and stir continuously for about a minute.
  4. Add half of the stock, and half of the corn kernels, to a blender. Blend until smooth. NOTE: using a food processor will result in a grainy texture. Add to pot along with remaining stock. Stir thoroughly, then cover. Cook until rutabaga pieces are tender, about 30 minutes.
  5. Add remaining corn, and stir thoroughly. Add salt and pepper, adjusting to taste.
  6. Serve with celery leaves sprinkled on top.
Recipe Notes

Refer to How to Make a Stock to make your own stock for this recipe.

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Shrimp Gumbo
Soups, Stews, and Chowders

Shrimp Gumbo

by Rob

This one was about as close to sorcery as anything I’ve ever made. While gumbo technically can be made without a roux, it just isn’t the same. After visiting New Orleans last year, asking a lot of people, and trying a lot of gumbo, I’m convinced of that.

A roux consists of flour and oil: that’s where all the points come from here. I used 2 ounces of canola oil and 1/2 cup of flour (half of what I used before joining Weight Watchers). The rest of the thickening came from okra.

I ground my own lean chicken breast and seasoned it to make a chicken andouille sausage. This is really good by itself, so I saved some for other meals.

I also made my own stock from the shrimp shells; this is a big 0 because it was just vegetables, seasoning, and water.

The rest consists of bell peppers, onion, garlic, tomato, Serrano pepper, various seasoning, and File powder (sassafras flavoring…another gumbo requirement as far as I’m concerned).

The result is really good: it has that subtle “fried” flavor that a roux provides, but I’m comfortable enough with how healthy it is that I don’t feel bad about having seconds.

NOTE: the file powder doesn’t have any substitute, but this is still a very good gumbo without it. The fried shrimp on top of the gumbo is cornmeal-battered, and is not part of this recipe.

This is served with a piece of cornflake crusted shrimp and cauliflower rice.

Print Recipe
 Shrimp Gumbo
2 Weight Watchers Points per 10 ounces
Course Soup
Cuisine Cajun
Keyword shrimp, WW2
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 1/2 hours
Servings
Ingredients
Course Soup
Cuisine Cajun
Keyword shrimp, WW2
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 1/2 hours
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. In a large pot over medium heat, add the oil. When the pan is hot, stir in flour using a hard plastic spatula to begin preparation of the roux.
  2. While preparing the roux, heat a pot of water with a dash of sugar in it until it boils. Add corn and heat until bubbling again, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for 8 minutes. Remove corn from water. When cool, cut kernels off the cob and set aside.
  3. Also while preparing the roux, heat seafood stock on low heat with shrimp shells. Stir occasionally. Remove from heat when the roux is ready. Strain the shells and any other particles from the stock and set aside.
  4. Continue stirring and turning over the roux until the color resembles chocolate, about 30 minutes.
  5. Add the onion, celery, and bell peppers, cooking for 5 minutes, stirring into the roux to ensure that every part is coated. Season with salt and pepper. Scrape the bottom of the pan and move the vegetables around so all of them have an equal amount of time on the bottom of the pot.
  6. Add the tomatoes, garlic, okra, and chili peppers and cook for about 5 minutes, scraping and stirring as in the previous step.
  7. Stir in the stock, corn kernels, bay leaves, oregano, thyme, and Old Bay. Bring the liquid up to a boil, about 8 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, and continue cooking for 15 minutes.
  8. While the stock is cooking, break the ground chicken into small pieces and cook in a separate pan until browned. Remove from pan and place on paper towel, but leave the rendered fat in the pan.
  9. Using the pan with the rendered fat, cook shrimp with file powder on medium heat for about 2 minutes, then flip over and cook for 1 more minute.
  10. Fold the shrimp and ground chicken into the pot, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add water, increasing or decreasing to achieve desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat. Remove Bay leaves and discard.
  11. Serve over cauliflower rice if desired.
Recipe Notes

Refer to How to Make a Stock to make your own stock for this recipe.

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Thai Coconut Corn Soup
Soups, Stews, and Chowders

Thai Coconut Corn Soup

by Rob

This is adapted from a Thai Coconut Soup recipe I used to make, but fresh corn is used as a thickener instead of cornstarch. This also means that less of the coconut milk is needed to give it a creamy consistency. And, best of all, it’s tasty and incredibly healthy.

 

Print Recipe
 Thai Coconut Corn Soup
2 Weight Watchers Points per 9.25 ounce bowl
Course Soup
Cuisine Thai
Keyword corn, shrimp, WW2
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Servings
Ingredients
Course Soup
Cuisine Thai
Keyword corn, shrimp, WW2
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Boil corn for 8 minutes in water with some sugar and salt added. Remove from water, and roast corn on the grill until grill marks form. Remove from grill, and cut kernels off the cob, saving cobs.
  2. Bring stock to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Add corn cobs and shells and juices reserved from the shrimp. Cover and allow to simmer for at least half an hour. Strain liquids out and set aside.
  3. Add 3/4 of corn kernels to a blender with 1 cup of stock. Blend until pureed, then set aside. NOTE: a food processor can't puree the kernels, and you'll end up with "corn pebbles" in your soup...still tasty, but not the ideal texture.
  4. Separate seeds, if any, from tamarind paste and discard.
  5. Heat the oil in a small pan over medium heat. Stir in the ginger, garlic, lemon grass, pepper, and tamarind paste for 1 minute.
  6. Slowly pour all but 1 cup of the stock over the mixture, stirring continually.
  7. Stir in the fish sauce; simmer for 15 minutes.
  8. Stir in the coconut milk, mushrooms, corn kernels and cilantro; cook and stir until the mushrooms are soft.
  9. Add the shrimp; cook until no longer translucent (about 5 minutes).
  10. Stir in the lime juice and rice vinegar. Heat for 1 minute, then serve.
Recipe Notes

Refer to How to Make a Stock to make your own stock for this recipe. Most store-bought stocks are heavier, but still not bad: this recipe becomes a 3-point-per-bowl recipe with a standard store-bought stock.

You can make this soup less spicy by removing the seeds from the pepper, or by using a milder pepper.

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