Southwestern Chicken Black Bean Soup

Southwestern Chicken Black Bean Soup 2 pts for 1 cup soup (without cheese or chips)

Ingredients

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon chopped onion
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth
3 cups fresh corn or frozen corn
1 can (15-1/2 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro
16 baked tortilla chip scoops, crumbled
1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese

Directions

In a large kettle or Dutch oven, saute chicken in oil until no longer pink. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. In the same pan, saute onion and jalapeno pepper until tender; add garlic and saute for 1 minute.

Stir in the broth, corn, beans, lime juice, salt, hot pepper sauce, pepper and reserved chicken; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Stir in cilantro. Top each serving with crumbled tortilla chips and cheese. Yield: 8 servings (2 quarts).

Editor's Note: When cutting hot peppers, disposable gloves are recommended. Avoid touching your face.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving (one cup soup with 1 tablespoon cheese and two crumbled tortilla chips) equals 227 calories, 4 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 37 mg cholesterol, 647 mg sodium, 27 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 21 g protein.
Diabetic Exchanges: 2 lean meat, 1-1/2 starch, 1 vegetable.

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Made June 8, 2010. I was happily surprised to see the soup by itself was only 2 points for 8 servings. I added the chips and cheese separately when I calculated my points because it was easier to get an accurate accounting.

Variations:
*I cooked it in the crockpot on high for 4 hours. I cubed the chicken (which was frozen) and added all the other ingredients except the cilantro which I added in the last half hour. The leaves did look kind of bleached by the time the timer went off, so next time I might wait to add them. But, it did give them a chance to add their flavor to the soup.

*I did not add the jalapenos, so this soup was not as spicy as it could have been, but it had a wonderful flavor.

*I used white corn instead of yellow, so it looked really bland. Probably if I had used jalapenos or yellow corn it would have looked more colorful. I was surprised it didn't call for diced tomatoes. Perhaps a future trial might include a can of ro-tel in place of jalapenos.

Mediterranean Medley Salad

Meditteranean Medley Salad 2 pts for 8 servings of 3/4 c.

Ingredients
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 can (6 ounces) light water-packed tuna, drained and flaked
1/2 cup sliced ripe olives
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 medium tomato, diced
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/4 cup thinly sliced radishes
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1/4 cup grated carrots

LEMON HERB SALAD DRESSING:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the first 10 ingredients. In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine salad dressing ingredients; shake well. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Yield: 4 servings.


Nutritional Analysis: One serving (1-1/2 cups) equals 284 calories, 11 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 18 mg cholesterol, 669 mg sodium, 33 g carbohydrate, 5 g fiber, 14 g protein.
Diabetic Exchanges: 2 very lean meat, 1-1/2 starch, 1-1/2 fat, 1 vegetable.

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Made May 3rd. This salad really surprised me. I enjoyed it!! I do not particularly like eating olives or tomatoes and sometimes even tuna, but the flavors all blended so well that it was pretty good!

Feta-Spinach Melts

Feta-Spinach Melts p.30, 2 points

Ingredients

3 packages (6 ounces each) fresh baby spinach, chopped
1 teaspoon water
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
3 tablespoons fat-free mayonnaise
3 tablespoons fat-free sour cream
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dill weed
20 slices French baguette (1/2 inch thick)

Directions

In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine spinach and water. Cover and microwave on high for 1-1/2 to 2 minutes or until spinach is wilted, stirring twice; drain and squeeze dry. Add the feta cheese, tomato, onion, mayonnaise, sour cream, garlic, salt and dill weed; set aside.

Arrange bread on a baking sheet. Broil 4 in. from the heat for 1-2 minutes or until lightly toasted. Spread each with about 1 tablespoonful spinach mixture. Broil 3-4 minutes longer or until heated through. Yield: 10 servings.


Nutritional Analysis: Two slices equals 100 calories, 3 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 8 mg cholesterol, 400 mg sodium, 15 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 4 g protein.
Diabetic Exchanges: 1 starch, 1/2 fat.

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Made March 31st. Absolutely delicious!! And a big hit at the dinner party I took it too.

My Variations:
*Bunched spinach instead of the baby spinach. It worked really well. It made a little more work for me because I had to wash the spinach and trim the stems off, but it was worth it since I only paid 50 cents per bunch and it just took 2 bunches.
*roma tomato because that was I had.
*French bread instead of baguette. I seriously debated whether or not I should go ahead and buy the baguette bread, but really this worked fine.

Strawberry Soup

Strawberry Soup 2 pts

Ingredients

1 pound fresh strawberries
1-1/4 cups vanilla yogurt, divided
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice concentrate
1/8 teaspoon almond extract or 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions

In a food processor, combine the strawberries, 1 cup yogurt, confectioners' sugar, orange juice concentrate and extract; cover and process until smooth. Garnish each serving with a dollop of remaining yogurt. Yield: 3 servings.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving (1 cup) equals 174 calories, 2 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 69 mg sodium, 35 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 6 g protein.
Diabetic Exchanges: 1-1/2 fruit, 1/2 reduced-fat milk, 1/2 starch.

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Made March 24th and 25th. This was a huge hit with everyone. It's pretty much a smoothie in a bowl. I had a bag of frozen strawberries from last year that I used instead of fresh strawberries. Since I defrosted the whole bag, I made two different batches.

First batch: I forgot that I was only supposed to put 1 cup of the yogurt in so it made more. I had fat free plain yogurt on hand, so I added some vanilla extract to be more in line with the recipe ingredients. I also used the almond extract instead of the lemon.

Second batch: Again I used the plain yogurt with vanilla extract, but I remembered to hold out the 1/4 cup for the dallop on each serving. I think it made the soup creamier to have the dallop. I also used the lemon juice instead of almond. I think I prefer the almond because it is a more subtle flavor. The soup was much more tart the second time. It might not have been an issue if I'd used actual vanilla yogurt though.

Asian Quinoa

Asian-Flavored Quinoa Allrecipes.com, 2 points as written, 3 points as I made

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup quinoa
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
1 clove garlic, minced
2 green onions, chopped

Directions

1.Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in quinoa and allow to toast for 2 to 3 minutes, then add chicken broth, soy sauce, ginger and garlic. Increase heat and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer until all liquid has been absorbed, 25 to 30 minutes. Fluff quinoa with fork and top with green onions before serving.

My Variation:
Add to Ingredients:

3 medium carrots, chopped/diced
1/2 c. frozen peas
1/4 bag of frozen snap peas
3 oz ham chopped (or could use other meat)

If I'd planned and prepared well ahead of time, all these would have gone in at the same time as the chicken broth, but I didn't. The carrots were added in with the quinoa and the peas were prepared according to the package directions. The quinoa was actually done before the peas, so I added the ham straight into it and warmed through, then added the peas. I also added leftover glaze from my Mango-Glazed Ham (which is the ham that I used. The flavors blended really well).

Yield: 8- 1/2 c. servings or 4- 1 c. servings

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Made March 11th. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. The recipe by itself is sound, but I figured if I was going to have an Asian flavor, I might as well make it an Asian dish. But as written, the recipe is 2 points. My final dish was 3 points.

This is my first experience using quinoa, and it went pretty well. The actual grain looks a lot like sesame seed, but as it cooks it sprouts. Pretty neat. On several sites it was highly recommended to rinse the quinoa before toasting it. I started it off in a 2qt saucepan but soon realized that was too small. I warmed up the dutch oven and moved the quinoa to it to be toasted.

I'd say this was a pretty successful dish. Aaron had a full 1 cup serving!! MIRACLE! Jared ate a full cup too, but the green onions were too strong for him. Once we added more of the mango glaze he didn't have any problem finishing it. Matthew liked the flavor but not the texture. I liked every bit of it :D

Seven Grain Bread

Seven Grain Bread LT02, 192, 2 points (depending on the width of the slice)

Made Feb 10th. This is another of those recipes I've wanted to make for several years, but never had. One of the things stopping me was the Five Grain Cereal. I found a recipe to make my own and purchased the barley for it, but still never did it. I finally found the umph this month to make it. The recipe I used for the five grain cereal is here.

We really liked the consistency of this bread. It was somewhat chewy with a slight crunch to it.

Mozzarella Pepperoni Bread

Mozz Pepperoni Bread LT02, 18, 2 pts

I don't have the dates for when I made this because I've made it several times. I LOVE this recipe!! It is so easy to make, and it really is only 2 points a slice!!

The first time I made it I bought a french bread loaf off the grocery store rack and cut it myself at home into the 1 in slices as the recipe directs. The second time I went back to the bakery and asked them if they could slice it for me, but to make sure that it didn't cut all the way through the loaf. She wasn't sure she'd be able to meet my request, but she did!! The slices ended up being more like 1/4 - maybe 1/2 inch in width. I loved having uniform pieces, but I discovered the problem with thin slices is that they get stuck together and tear really easily.

The boys didn't care for this type of pizza very much because the crust is so hard, but Matthew and I like it. I took it to a playgroup and it was a big hit amongst the adults there too.