Today's Weight Watchers recipe: The new Weight Watchers zero points soup recipe, this one the "Italian" soup. It's the mildest of the new Weight Watchers soups and is packed with Italian-style vegetables like fennel and radicchio. Like the other zero point soups, it's: Low Carb. Vegan. And of course, Weight Watchers 0 points.
For many people who follow the Weight Watchers plan, the zero point soups are like the air we breathe: we don't want to be without! So it's no wonder that Weight Watchers UK developed three new recipes to give some variation to the granddaddy original zero point soup, the Garden Vegetable Zero Point Soup. I love the Weight Watchers Mexican Zero Point soup and the Asian Zero Point Soup stars Asian vegetables, so yes, it is a good variation too.
This Italian-style soup, hmm, I'm not so sure. It has so many vegetables in it, it should be wonderful. Instead it's mild. No one vegetable really stands out and to my taste, they don't really meld, either. The Italian Zero-Point Soup actually tastes like diet food, which I suppose in some circ*mstances is a good thing. And yet ...
To my taste, go for one of my very favorite recipes from A Veggie Venture's first year, when I was cooking a new vegetable recipe every day. Summer Vegetable Stew is based on a country Spanish recipe and does have one point. But it is so much more substantial in flavor and substance – and is endlessly variable and completely satisfying. Zero point soups aren't hard to make without following a recipe. They're just a pile of non-starchy vegetables cooked in 6 cups of a non-fat broth. It's even easy to convert one-point soups to zero-point soups.
WEIGHT WATCHERS ITALIAN ZERO POINTS SOUP RECIPE
Hands-on time: 40 minutes
Time to table: 55 minutes
Makes 11 cups
6 cups vegetable broth
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 small zucchini, chopped
1 fennel bulb, sliced thin
1 red pepper, chopped
1 cup chopped radicchio (see TIPS)
1 cup fresh spinach
28 ounces canned diced tomatoes (or 3 large fresh tomatoes)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh oregano, chopped
Kosher salt to taste
Pepper to taste
1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
Bring broth to a boil in a large kettle or Dutch oven on MEDIUM HIGH while prepping the vegetables. Add the vegetables through the fresh herbs all at once. Cover and return to a boil. Uncover just a bit and let cook for about 10 minutes. Stir in salt and pepper to taste, then parsley and basil. Serve immediately.
ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES Radicchio is expensive! Substitute red or even green cabbage and call it "cavolo". This soup calls for vegetables that, at least in my kitchen, are known and liked but are special purchases versus pantry staples. If this is the case for other cooks, check out the links below for other recipes using the same ingredients. One caveat. For the first time, I didn't use Better Than Bouillon, my favorite broth base. This might make well make a difference?
NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Cup: 40 Calories; 0g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 628mg Sodium; 8g Carb; 2g Fiber; 4g Sugar; 2g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS WW Old Points 0, WW PointsPlus 1, WW SmartPoints 1, WW Freestyle 0 CALORIE COUNTERS 100-calorie serving = 2 cups (5g protein).
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QUICK! QUICK! MORE RECIPES WITH THESE INGREDIENTS
zucchini fennel bell peppers spinach radicchio tomatoes
MORE FAVORITE LOW-POINT WEIGHT WATCHERS RECIPES
~ Peasant Cabbage Tomato Soup ~
~ Buttermilk Garlic Salad Dressing ~
~ Slow Cooker Vegetarian Lentil Sloppy Joes ~
~ more Weight Watchers vegetable recipes ~
from A Veggie Venture
~ DIY Power Balls ~
~ Easy Skinny Turkey Roll-ups with Fresh Veggies ~
~ Squash & Carrot Stew ~
~ more Weight Watchers recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade, my food column
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