Basil Chicken Orzo Soup

Looking for a healthy, easy, comfort soup? Look no further. This recipe that came from "gimme some oven" is scrumpdilicious! I made some slight modifications.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced (I used 3 cubes of Dorot frozen garlic.)
• 8 cups good-quality chicken stock or broth
• 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
• 2 bay leaves
• 5-6 fresh basil leaves, chopped (I used 3 cubes of Dorot frozen basil.)
• 1 cup dried orzo pasta

Directions:

• Heat olive oil in a large cooking pot over medium-high heat.
• Add carrots, celery and garlic then stir for 60 seconds. 
• Stir in chicken stock, chicken, and bay leaves. 
• Let simmer for an hour (or 30 minutes if you're rushed). 
• Bring soup back to a boil.
• Add basil and orzo - cooking according to package directions. 

Yum! I have made it twice now and it's a dish K and I both like. 

It's a bit on the salty side as is so be sure to taste test before you add any salt! 

Also, if you have leftovers, be forewarned that the Orzo seems to soak up all the broth making it less soupy. K eats it as is, but I add a little water to mine before heating it up and it's fine. 

P.S. This recipe is Weight Watchers friendly!

6 Points Per Serving: 

Calories:  259

Carbs:  32

Fat:  3

Protien:  23

Weight Watchers Confirmation

I have been seriously thinking about re-joining Weight Watchers (WW) lately.  While I am not at my biggest, I am probably just a couple pounds shy of my biggest. I told K the other day - I have to do something. I am uncomfortable in my own skin and I just want to be able to cross my legs without having to tuck or hold my foot! 

She had a point - we spend quite a bit of money every month to maintain her health, why shouldn't I be able to do the same for my health? Great point, K. So I have been thinking about joining WW and figuring out if it's even feasible with my weird hours and I will be out of town for two weeks... and can we really budget for it... you know, finding all the reasons to procrastinate or not do it at all. 

And then today happened. 

I was at the grocery store, picking some things up for the week. (I would like it noted that they were even healthier choices! More fruits and veggies, less chips and cookies.)

Anyway, I am in the yogurt section. 

Nearby is a perfectly skinny teenage girl and her perfectly skinny mother. 

As I grab the yogurt I need, I knock a couple packages of gold fish off the little kiosk that I would like to tell myself was set up to close to the yogurts anyway. (Although, I just realized that this is just another confirmation that I need to join WW.)

Me, being the courteous person I am, I squat down and pick them up. 

And I freeze. 

Did that really just happen? 

OMG

I reach back behind my leg and...

 

Yep, it happened. 

There is no Instagram filter to make this situation pretty.
It's as ugly as it gets. 

It's as real as it gets.

Humiliating at first, hysterical later.

Apparently, at some point, the perfectly skinny teenage girl saw what happened because I saw her quickly walk over to her mom and talk to her in hushed tones. 

I calmly removed my sweater and tied it around my waist and finished my shopping. 

A couple aisles later, in the rather drafty frozen food aisle, I run into this perfectly skinny mother daughter combo again and the daughter once again, quickly walks over to her mom to point me out and whisper about my mishap while the mother pretends to be (rather loudly) contemplating what ice cream treat they should get. 

 Go ahead, get your ice cream.... get 10 ice creams... and then when your pants split, you'll remember me and have compassion instead of judgement - skinny bitches. LOL

In my defense, these pants are probably a good 7-10 years old and worn rather thin. 

Needless to say though, thin pants or not, I will be joining WW next month.

Got any good WW recipes you want to share? 

;o)

Roasted Chicken and Vegetable Pasta Primavera

I have made this recipe three times now. I liked it the first time, loved it the second time, and was disappointed the third time. I'm not sure why... maybe because I didn't use chicken? I can't remember if I used it the other times. I'm not really sure. Even though I wasn't happy with it this last time, I still recommend the recipe. For a Weight Watchers meal it really is pretty good.

The Recipe

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs of think asparagus
1 cup matchstick-cut carrots (I didn't use these)
Medium sized sweet onion, halved and thinly sliced (I didn't use these either - instead I cut up some bell peppers and threw them in for flavoring.)
1 tsp bottled minced garlic (I used Dorot Frozen Garlic cubes)
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 pint grape tomatoes (Watch these closely, they start exploding!)
2 cups sliced rotisserie chicken breast
3/4 cup whipping cream
2/3 cup shaved fresh Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 450.

Snap off tough ends of asparagus and cut asparagus into 2-inch pieces. Combine asparagus, and next three ingredients in a large roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper; toss gently to coat. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes or until veggies begin to brown. Stir veggies, add tomatoes, and cook 5 minutes.

While the vegetables roast, cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain well. reserving 1/3 cup pasta water. Keep pasta and reserved water warm.

Combine Chicken, veggies, pasta. reserved pasta water, and whipping cream; toss gently to coat. Sprinkle with cheese. Serve immediately.


Points: 7
Yields: 8 servings
Serving size: 1 1/4 cups
Per serving: CAL 318 (39% from fat); FAT 13.7g (sat fat 7.2g); PRO 20.9g; CARB 27.8g; CHOL 67mg; IRON 2.6mg; SOD 434 mg; CALC 181mg

The Review

Even though I wasn't in love with it this time, I am sure I will make it again. It's not the best as leftovers so I recommend having it when you are feeding guests so you can eat as much as possible in the first sitting.