Soups and Salads
Steve's Reduced Calorie Tuna Salad
Ingredients
- 4 4 oz Cans Light Tuna
- 1.5 cup Celery Chopped
- 1.5 cup Yellow Onion (or Red) or red Bell Pepper
- 8 oz Dill Pickle Chopped
- .5 cup Cucumber Diced
- 3 Cloves Fresh Garlic Crushed
- 0.5 cup Best Foods Mayonaise
- 1 tsp Celery Seed
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 tsp Celery Salt
- 6 wedges Fresh Lemon
Instructions
- Open and drain 4 can's of light tuna and put in mixing bowl4 4 oz Cans Light Tuna
- Dice and chop all the veggies. Add to bowl.1.5 cup Celery Chopped, 1.5 cup Yellow Onion (or Red), 8 oz Dill Pickle Chopped, .5 cup Cucumber Diced, 3 Cloves Fresh Garlic Crushed
- Add mayonnaise and seasonings and stir.0.5 cup Best Foods Mayonaise, 1 tsp Celery Seed, 1 tsp Black Pepper, 1 tsp Celery Salt
- Serve over chopped lettuce or alone with fresh lemon wedge to squeeze over salad6 wedges Fresh Lemon
Steve's Spicy Version Of Weight Watchers Zero Point Soup
Ingredients
- 2 cup Celery - Chopped
- 2 cup Yellow Onion Diced
- 2 lb Baby Carrots (or 1 pound of whole carrots cut into 1/2 inch rounds)
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Garlic Clove (crushed)
- 1 Yellow Bell Pepper
- 1 Green Bell Pepper
- 15 oz Can Diced Tomatoes with Chiles
- 1 Jar Roasted Red Peppers (pureed in a food processor)
- 32 oz Vegetable Stock
- 32 oz Chicken Stock
- 8 oz Green Cabbage - Cut into approximately 1" squares
- 1/2 tbsp Chili Powder (or to taste)
- 1/2 tbsp Salt (or to taste)
- 1/4 tbsp Ground Black Pepper (or to taste)
- 1/4 tbsp Cayenne Pepper
Instructions
- In a large pot heat the olive oil on high... add the onions, celery and carrots. Stir occasionally and cook until onions are translucent (maybe 5 minutes) Then add crushed garlic and diced tomatoes. Add the pureed roasted red peppers. Stir. Add salt and pepper. Add the vegetable stock and chicken stock. Stir and let it come to a boil. Once boiling add the red and green bell peppers and bring to a boil again. Once boiling reduce heat to simmer.
- At this point you should taste the soup and add the Chile powder and Cayenne pepper as desired. Add in small amounts, stir and taste again. You may also want to add more salt. Simmer and check the carrots to see if they are near being done. Once they are close to done add the cabbage... simmer until carrots and cabbage are cooked.
- This makes a LOT of soup... plan ahead for storage containers for the fridge and freezer... I usually eat a bowl (about 2 cups) for lunch and or dinner for several days... and still have more in the freezer. You could certainly half the recipe in which case I would use either the Vegetable Stock or the Chicken Stock.. don't open both and throw the rest away. Just use one of them. Each cup has approximately 68 calories and it's DELICIOUS!
- Feel free to substitute the veggies just stay away from the starchy ones (Potatoes, corn, peas, etc.)
I took a recipe we had been using for Zuppa Toscana and checked the calories.. it was 327 calorie per cup.. I need at least 3 cups so it was just too high for me to eat that much. I went through the recipe and made changes.. the main changes are the use of Lean Turkey Italian Sausage and fat-free half and half instead of heavy cream… the result is really good… it isn’t quite as creamy, but it’s really good.. I changed the recipe now to whole milk instead of the FF Half and half so that should help… Got it down to 192 calories per cup!
DISCLAIMER: I did not take the photo above. I forgot to take a picture, so for now that is a picture I found that closely resembles the soup. Next time I make it I will replace this picture.
Makes about 18 one cup servings
Ingredients:
1 Yellow onion – Diced
3 Cups Kale – Cut into smaller pieces
2 ½ Pounds Jenno-O Lean Turkey Italian Sausage (I used 1 package Sweet Italian and 1 package Spicey Italian)
3 Pounds Potatoes – Russet – Peeled, cut in half lengthwise then sliced into ¼ inch or less slices (keep in cool water to keep them from turning brown)
7 1/2 Tablespoons Knorr Chicken Flavor Bouillon (Caldo Con Sabor De Pollo)
2 Cups Whole Milk
15 Cups Water
Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (to taste)
Remove casing from sausages and in larger pot brown sausage while smashing to make small pieces. remove sausages to a bowl and in the same pot add onions… cook for about 5 minutes until translucent. Add water mixed with bouillon. Bring to boil. Add sliced potatoes. Bring to boil then reduce heat to simmer for about 30 minutes or until potatoes are soft. return sausage to pot. Add whole milk. Bring to simmer. Add Kale and let cook for 5-10 minutes or until the kale is soft. Add pepper flakes and salt to taste
Each cup has approximately 192 calories and it’s AWESOME!
I have a pasta salad recipe that I really enjoy but is very high in fat. So I took it and adjusted it to get a Weight Watchers friendly recipe. Makes 8 (1 cup) servings.
12 oz Box Barilla Tri-Color Rotini
1/2 Cup White Onions – Diced
12 Large Black Olives – Coarse Chopped
6 Large Green Olives – Coarse Chopped
3 Cups Fresh Broccoli – Small Floretes
1/4 Cup Red Bell Pepper – Chopped
14 oz Bottle Bernstein’s Fat Free Cheese & Garlic Italian Dressing
1 oz Parmesan Cheese
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Boil Pasta in water until just tender. Drain and cool.
Steam Broccoli until tender. Dice Onion. Coarse chop olives. Chop Red Bell Pepper.
In large bowl combine Pasta, Onions, Green and Black Olives, Broccoli, Red Bell Pepper & Italian Dressing. Mix well. Using a micro plane grate Parmesan into bowl, stirring occasionally to evenly distribute.
Chill and serve.
Our estimated WW PointsPlus:
Serving size: 1 cup
5 PointsPlus
Ever since I was a kid my family always had this Macaroni Salad (and Ham and Swiss on rye sandwiches) every New Years day… so I decided that I could make is a little ‘lighter’ this year and figure out the exchanges… it’s still a little heavy in the fats, but it is very good in moderation… it makes 16 servings so give some away so you don’t eat it all (like I would) Hope you all enjoy!
1 pound bag of dried salad macaroni
1/2 Red Onion – chopped fine (about 1 cup)
6 stalks of celery – chopped fine (about 1 1/2 cups)
8 small sweet pickles – chopped fine (about 1 cup)
2 Eggs
1 1/2 cups lite mayonnaise
2 tsp juice from the jar of sweet pickles
1 1/4 tsp celery seed
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp celery salt
salt to taste
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Bring pot of water to boil and add pasta… cook until tender. Drain and rinse in cold water until cool. Drain well. Place pasta in large bowl. Place 2 eggs in pot of water (cool) and place on high heat. Bring to boil. Boil for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, crack shells and run under cold water.
While pasta and eggs are cooking, fine chop onion, celery and sweet pickles.
When pasta is cool add the chopped ingredients and mix. Add White pepper, celery seed and celery salt and mix. Add sweet pickle juice and Lite Mayo and mix. When eggs are cool peel them under running water. Chop into small pieces (just larger than the onion and celery) and mix into salad. Refrigerate overnight. Salt to taste when serving
Makes 16 servings (1/2 cup each)
Our estimated exchanges:
Serving size: 1/2 cup
1/2 Starch
1/16 Vegetable
1 1/2 Fat
1/8 Protein
1/4 Extra
Each recipe has been created by Steve and includes my estimate of exchanges for the Lighten Up program. Please understand that I am no expert and have done my best to calculate these figures. I believe they are accurate.