Shepherd's Pie & Tuscan Bean Soup!

I have had a few recipes that we are trying from the new Weight watchers points plus recipe book. So far we have 2 that have turned out fantastic! I forgot to take a picture of the Shepherd's Pie. But instead I will just have to post the recipe for that one until next time we make it and we will make it again.

Shepherd's Pie (makes 6 servings)

WW Ppts: 6 pts a serving

1 1/2 pounds (3 potatoes was enough) Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks.

1/2 cup plain fat free yogurt

2 Tbsp finely chopped parsley (I used 1 Tbsp dried parsley flakes)

3/4 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tsp olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

1/2 pound lean ground beef (5% or less fat)

1/2 pound ground turkey (breast meat only)

1- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes

1 cup frozen peas (I used peas and carrots mix b/c it's what I had)

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Put potatoes in medium saucepan and add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain. With potato masher, mash potatoes until smooth. Stir in yogurt, parsley 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.

3. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion, cook, stirring until softened, about 5 minutes. Add beef and turkey, cook breaking apart meat with spoon. Once fully cooked, drain off any fat.

4. Add tomatoes, peas, thyme, and remaining salt and pepper, bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes.

5. Spread meat mixture in 10 inch deep-dish pie plate or 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Spread mashed potatoes on top. Bake until potatoes begin to brown and filling is bubbly about 20 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

The only thing that I can think that would have made it any better. Is some brown gravy. But that is only b/c I'm used to Shepherd's pie with gravy. There are some low fat option out there that only use water to mix. Which I would have made except I didn't have any.

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The Tuscan Bean Soup was delicious, but I "bulked it up a bit". Without making it go way up in points, and it was worth it.

Tuscan Bean Soup (makes 4 servings)

WW Ppts: 5 pts a serving

2 tsp Olive oil

1 Onion, chopped

2 Carrots, diced

2 Celery Stalks, diced

2 Garlic cloves, minced

1 - 15.5 ounce can Cannellini Beans, rinsed and drained

4 cups Chicken broth, fat free

2 - 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes

1 Tbsp dried basil

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp crushed Rosemary

1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese

1 package of Tyson Ready Grilled chicken breast strips

1. Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, and celery; cook stirring, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant. About 30 seconds. Stir in beans and broth. With potato masher, coarsely mash cannellini beans.

2. Stir tomatoes, basil, and pepper into soup. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes or until carrots and celery are soft but not mushy. Heat Chicken strips in microwave and then mix into soup.

3. Serve sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

Cajun White bean Soup

It was cold over the weekend. I mean like highs in the 50's here. So not cool (pardon the pun), but I wanted a little fall like weather. Somewhere in the upper 60's-70's... at least for a couple weeks. On the upside, I got to pull out this Soup recipe from the Cajun Encyclopedia. It made a HUGE potful, so we had my in-laws over to enjoy it with us.

It was a first for me, buying ham hocks... which for me I had always laughed at the odd pig parts that certain grocery stores carried, only this week to find myself looking for the "best" ham hock of the bunch... YEP, never thought I would have done that one. But it was so worth it.

The one thing about this recipe, is that you have to soak the beans overnight prior to cooking them. So it's not one of those throw together at the last minute recipe. But it's so good and worth the time spent on it.

Cajun White Bean Soup (makes 12 servings)

WW pts: 6 pts a serving

1- 1 lb package of dried great northern beans

2 ham hocks

1 link of smoked sausage, diced

1/3 cup olive oil

2 cups diced onions

2 cups diced celery

1 cup diced bell pepper (I used green)

1/4 cup minced garlic

2- 15 oz. cans diced tomatoes, no salt added

water as needed

1 bay leaf

salt and cracked pepper to taste

Presoak dried beans overnight. Drain and wash beans again before cooking. In a 2 gallon pot (or largest you've got), heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onions , celery, peppers, garlic. Saute for 5 minutes, then add drained tomatoes. Add sausage and cook 3-5 minutes more. Then add ham hocks. Stir in beans and cook for 2 minutes. Pour in enough water to cover beans by 2 inches. Bring to a rolling boil, reduce to simmer and cook, stirring occasionally for about an hour. Once beans begin to become tender, mash them against the side of pot to create creaminess. Season with bay leaf, salt and pepper. Simmer approximately 1 1/2-2 hours, continuing to stir and mash beans occasionally. Soup is ready when it has reached the creamy consistency of cream of mushroom soup. I think I let ours cook 5 hours, adding a little more water about 1/2 way through.

Pot full of chili for 5.00.

I didn't plan so well with the weather in mind, seeing as next week it's supposed to be cool, and today it was in the 80's. But nevertheless, we did a pot of Turkey Chili. My mom used to make this with leftover turkey from Thanksgiving, but since I didn't have leftover Turkey (yet) I used ground Turkey. This chili is so great because it's so cheap and it will be at least 2 dinners and 2 lunches for both Michael and I. The only downside to this recipe is the dried beans, but all you have to do is pour 1/2 lb of dried beans into a pot, cover with water and cover with lid and then let sit overnight.

Ground Turkey Chili (Makes 16 cups)

WW pts: 2 pts a cup

1 lb. Ground Turkey (sale) .99 cents

2- 28 oz. can Diced Tomatoes, drained (BIGI free) 1.28

2 packages store brand Chili seasoning .59 cents each

1/2 lb. Dried Red Beans 1.68 for whole bag

Onion, diced .75 cents

3 stalks, celery diced.

1/2 green pepper, diced, (sale- sliced and frozen) .25

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup mustard

1-28 ounce can filled with water

Brown ground meat if you need to, if you are using leftover Thanksgiving Turkey dice it up into chunks. Drain beans from water. Pour beans and Tomatoes into crockpot. Pour the remaining ingredients, stir to mix. You may need to add more water if it seems thick. The beans will soak up some more of the water, so you can always add extra and it won't be runny in the end. Then turn on for low for 8 hours and go to work or leave it be.

We always serve it with Original fritos and shredded cheddar cheese. And you can always add a little Louisiana hot sauce.

Bison.

I know it's a regional thing, since most restaurants in Alabama don't carry Bison/Buffalo burgers. I had seen on my cooking shows the hosts trying Bison burgers and raving about them. Well last week while we were in South Dakota, I decided to "buck up" (pardon the pun) and try something new.... The burgers were fantastic. Not greasy like most hamburgers are, and had great flavor. So before we packed up to head south. My dad nicely filled our cooler full of a bunch of bison goodies. He gave us roasts, strip meat (for fajita style), ground buffalo (hamburgers), and Michael's favorite- Jerky.

So as a thank you to my wonderful in-laws who watched our dogs while we were gone, I am making Bison Stew (thanks to allrecipes.com). Think Beef stew with Bison instead of Beef. So far it's been cooking for 1 hour and it smells delicious. The only downside to the recipe, is I don't know how to convert Buffalo to points I've gotta look that up tonight. So for tonight, you are going to get the recipe, so if you choose to use beef then you can add up the points. But just from looking at the recipe, it can't be too many points for a serving.

*post dinner: This recipe was awesome. I had enough meat to be able to make a whole other batch, which will come in handy in about a month when it's good and cool outside. Perfect soup for a cool winter day. And I actually liked it without the potatoes, which you could add if you wanted.

Bison Stew (makes 6 servings)

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 pounds bison meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 cup minced yellow onion
• 1/2 cup minced celery
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• 3 tbsp ground black pepper
• 3 whole cloves
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
• 
  
• Heat 2 tablespoons canola oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat; brown the bison in oil, 2 to 3 minutes per side; remove bison and set aside. Pour 1 tablespoon canola oil into the Dutch oven; cook and stir the onion and celery in the oil until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic; cook and stir another 2 to 3 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and stir to coat. Stir in the broth, water, wine, salt, pepper, cloves, tomato sauce, parsley, and thyme to the mixture; bring to a boil. Return the bison to the mixture and stir through. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until meat is fork tender, about 1 hour.

Chicken & Spinach Enchilada Soup

I found this recipe in a cookbook that I had gotten from the library. Somehow I always forget that huge stash of cookbook the library has. But while I was there last time, I ran into that section and found a couple that I flipped through. This one did not disappoint, it was light but filling, if that makes sense.

Chicken & Spinach Enchilada Soup (makes 4 servings)

WW pts: 4.5 pts a serving

2 tsp Olive Oil

1 lb boneless chicken breast, diced into 3/4 inch cubes (2 breasts is what I used)

1/2 medium onion dices

2 cups fat free low sodium chicken broth

1 1/2 cup fat free milk

1- 10.5 ounce can low fat cream of chicken soup

1- 10 ounce frozen chopped spinach, thawed & squeezed dry

1/2 tsp Chili powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 cup Shredded cheddar cheese (I used full fat, but it might be less pts for low-fat or ff)

Heat a large non-stick saucepan over medium high heat. Pour the oil into the saucepan and swirl to coat. Cook Chicken 6-8 minutes or until no longer pink in the center. Add onion and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Stir in broth, milk, soup, spinach, cumin and chili powder. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 6-8 minutes. To serve, ladle the soup into the bowls and sprinkle with the cheese.

We made a cheese quesadilla and split it between Michael and I. All in all this one is a keeper, and the only thing I could think to do different was to add a can of Rotel, or some more Chili Powder.

Pasta Soup.

We are fast becoming HUGE fans of Eat at home cooks. If you can't tell by the fact that 1/2 of our week has been recipes from her site!!! Tonight is no different. I of course took her recipe and tweaked it just a bit. But in the end, I think no matter what recipe you follow, this one would turn out yummy!!!

Now please don't laugh at the pasta that we used. I tried to get Will to eat some alphabets a while ago, and he wouldn't so I was left with almost a full package of Alphabets... so I used them instead of opening something else.

Here is her original recipe.

Pasta Soup

I added a can of Rotel and 4 cups of water to the recipe. It added a little spice to it, and made it a little "soupier".

I figured up the WW pts at 2 pts. per cup. My version made 10 cups of soup. And I'm looking forward to having it for leftovers this weekend!!!