Photo from Skinnytaste
While many of you are still experiencing super hot weather, ours has cooled down dramatically. So much, in fact, that I decided soup weather has arrived.
I’ve been following Weight Watchers for the past couple of months because I wanted to lose 10 pounds that I had gained due to inattentive eating habits. The weight loss is going so well that I have continued to lose even more than my 10-pound goal. My grand total is now at 17 pounds gone! Hopefully forever. I tell you, those size 8 jeans I had stored away are looking pretty good.
The reason I am telling you this is that I have been trying a number of Weight Watchers-friendly recipes. My favorite source is a website called SkinnyTaste, Gina Holmolka’s blog. She creates fantastic recipes, always with the Weight Watchers points included. She also has a few cookbooks out, which are also very good.
While Dennis was off having his infusions, the first night I had scrambled eggs. Big whoop. The second night I decided I wanted a real dinner, and since the weather had really cooled off, I thought soup would be just the thing. I browsed Gina’s website for soup recipes and found this one for Turkey Meatball Soup. Only 4 Weight Watchers points per serving.
I made some changes to the recipe and will make another one next time I make it. Don’t get me wrong, the basic recipe is quite good. The first change I made was to the meatballs. The recipe instructed me to just plop the raw meatballs into the broth and that they would cook just fine. That may be so, but I decided to bake mine in the oven first to get a little color on them. I always remember Anne Burrell’s words: “Brown food is better”. I baked my meatballs for 12 minutes at 400 degrees.
The second change I would make next time would be to use a smaller pasta. It is just impossible to pick up spaghetti with a spoon! Next time I will use fusilli or orreccheti.
Other than that, this soup was a light, low-calorie option that filled our tummies and satisfied that early fall craving for something warm and nourishing! Let me know if you try it. The prep time is minimal and the leftovers taste wonderful the next day.
16 Responses
Great website recommendation!
That website is just full of great recipes, most of which have the Weight Watchers points value.
Your changes to the soup brought a smile! My former m-i-l, a VERY traditional Italian lady made a batch of sauce every weekend. Part of the meatballs mix was always browned (fried) but the other part was dropped into the sauce raw. Those meatballs did cook with the sauce but I always thought the ones that were browned before adding to the sauce tasted so much better. So I plan to give your soup a try but will definitely be browning the meatballs first! Thanks for the memory and a lovely soup recipe-
I also prefer the texture of a browned meatball. Baking them in the oven wasn’t messy at all, and the pan cleaned up easily. We had the leftovers yesterday, and the soup was delicious. My husband was much more adept than I was at spooning up the spaghetti noodles! I am still going to swap out the pasta next time.
It’s soup weather here, too! This recipe looks delicious! I made meatballs yesterday (beef) for hot sandwiches. I may give the soup a try with the leftovers. I don’t think I could use uncooked meatballs–just something that sounds squishy-mushy & not appealing! Thanks for sharing!
Supposedly they poach in the broth, but I prefer the texture of a meatball that has been browned. I saved calories by baking them in the oven rather than frying them. They weren’t quite as crisp and brown, but good enough.
Holy smokes Nicole! 17 lbs!!! Congratulations! Thank you for the web site recommendation. Did you join WW online?
Hope you get some sewing in this weekend!
I did join WW online. Their app is just fantastic. You can import recipes from other websites and track them. I have been fairly obsessed with it. I didn’t have much weight to lose, but now I am feeling positively svelte. I haven’t been this thin in years.
Oh wow, that soup looks delicious! Thank you for the recommendation.
And congrats to the eating healthier habit that you are sustaining and that is paying off!
If I can only keep up these good habits!
Will check out that website – thanks!! Am glad to see turkey meatballs (yes, browned!) as we still cannot eat beef due to Lone Star tick bites, one for each of us. Am glad we can still eat pork and turkey as some who were bitten by those ticks cannot eat either.
Hugs!
My sister has always successfully substituted ground turkey for ground beef in her recipes.
yay, you! I haven’t been a size 8 in 20 yrs. ;p I make turkey/pesto meatballs and brown them in a skillet b4 putting them in the sauce to finish cooking. dave loves it.
I’m really enjoying the cooler weather. all the people on the east coast and the mid-west are really suffering. I really feel for them. so much awful weather week after week.
hope you get some sewing time…..I’m off to walk the dog and then take the beast for a bath. no sewing here.
I’ve been busy this week cleaning out my closet. I donated six bags to our local donation center, packed up some too large sweaters and all the size 10 jeans into bins to revisit later…Hopefully they will stay too big!
Yes, I have been loving this weather too! My friend Sue and I had to wear our sweatshirts on our walk this morning.
Weight Watcher lifetime member here. Not sure I am at my goal weight – have not been to or accessed a meeting in years. You inspired me to get back to the program. Congratulations on your weight loss!!
The app is so good. I have it on my phone. It even has a scanner so you can scan labels at the grocery store and get the point values while you shop.