2 bags frozen California blend veggies
6 cups water
1 tsp. season salt
5-tsp. chicken soup base or 5 chicken bouillon cubes then omit season salt.
1 box frozen chopped broccoli
1/8 - ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
10 oz. LIGHT Velveeta cheese
Cook veggies in the water w/ bouillon cubes. When veggies are tender remove veggies from water and puree’ in blender. Return veggies to water. Add box of chopped broccoli and cook until tender. Slice 10 oz. Of Velveeta Light into cubes and add. Stir until melted. 1 point per cup.
I love soup! There are so many great low point soups, they really help out. I really like Sante Fe soup. It's really good and only I point/ cup. I posted it under ww recipes-soups. It was a long time ago, I even had a different member name( Rachel28). I'll pull it up for you. Go check out that thread, there are several great recipes!
Rachel
I have a basic soup recipe that I play with. The points range from 0-2, depending on what veggies I use and whether I add beans, pasta, rice, potatoes, corn, or peas.
Take 1 large can of chicken, beef, or the equivalent in small cans of vegetable stock. Bring to a boil. Add any two packages of frozen veggies. Simmer until the veggies are cooked. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
If I'm using the soup as a main course, I'll add 1 pound of dried beans, precooked, and 4 ounces of orzo. I cook the orzo right in the soup. If I use rice, I cook it separately and add it right before serving the soup.
I add herbs and spices in different combinations to suit my mood. One way to know what goes together if you're not used to doing this is to choose combinations you use in other dishes. For example, for an Italian Minestrone flavor, use the herbs and spices you use in your spaghetti sauce. For Mexican, use the herbs and spices you'd use in chili. Another way to mix them is to open the bottles or put combinations of fresh herbs together and smell them. If they smell good, they will taste good, since a large part of our sense of taste is really the smell of our food.
I also will add meat, poultry, or fish if I'm having it for dinner.
Sometimes I add fresh veggies. The important thing when using fresh veggies is to add the ones that take the longest to cook first. Add the rest in stages so they all get done at once. Sometimes I saute some onion and garlic in the bottom of the pot before I add the stock. A piece of bacon can add a nice flavor to soups, too.
If I want a creamy soup, I puree half or all of the vegetables. Beans, potatoes, pasta, and rice also thicken soup. I usually don't puree all of it because I like some vegetables to chew on when I eat the soup. Then I add some evaporated skim milk. If I'm cooking for company or a special dinner or need a bit of fat in my day, I'll add 1/2 teaspoon of creme fraiche to the bowl when I serve it and mix it in. It really makes it creamy without adding a lot of fat, like the traditional cream soup made with heavy cream or a butter/flour roux does.
Creme fraiche, if you're not familiar with it, is heavy cream mixed with buttermilk and left to thicken. The main benefit of using it is that it adds a lot of creaminess and it doesn't curdle when you add it to hot soups and sauces. The obvious disadvantage is that it's all fat. But I've found that it doesn't take very much to get the benefits so it can be used in a low fat food plan by mixing it with skim milk, nonfat yogurt, and other nonfat dairy products. I use it to make a killer lowfat creme brulee and other custard-type foods.
I LOVE the WW 0 pt soup recipe from the Welcome book. I revised it a little because I like certain veggies and wanted to add some protein.
Each week I make a huge batch using the following:
4 cans low sodium Fat Free chicken broth
1/4 onion
1 t garlic
1/2 small-med. cabbage cut into chunks
1 cup spagetti sauce
2 cans small white GOYA beans - rinsed
and then I add about 3 zuchinni cut into chunks and 2 yellow squash cut into chunks.
For each bowl of soup I guesstimate 1.5 pts. because the whole batch makes about 10 bowls of soup. Very filling and really curbs my appetite.
Kim
I guess this post will show what a lazy person I truly am!!! Here is my recipe:
1 can fat free, low sodium chicken broth
1 can no salt added cut green beans
1 can delmonte zuchinni in tomato sauce
1 can chopped seasoned tomatoes
1 can no salt added cut carrots
I heat it to a boil then immediately remove from heat. When burner cools, I put it back on really low for awhile. I am not sure how many points it has since carrots are no longer free, but it makes enough that you aren't going to get very many carrots in each cupful.
Sometimes I will throw in some cooked white chicken breast that I have left over if I am going to use it as the main part of my meal.
I'm not quite finished working on that creme brulee recipe. It's good, but in the last test, I found I still needed to tweak it a bit. I'll try to remember to publish it in the recipe section when I've got it right. I'm kind of picky about my recipes, so I work on them a lot before I publish them. It takes a while because I don't have the financial resources just to cook something over and over until it's right, the way the pros do. I have to take very good notes and make changes each time I cook it for my family. They rebel if I cook the same thing too many times in a row. So, I cook stuff I'm working on as often as I can get away with it.
Broccoli Cheese Soup - 1pt
