Ham & Navy Bean Soup

My grandma used to make a soup kind of like this, so I made up my own version this past weekend.

Recipe
6-8 C chicken broth
5 cans navy beans, drained and rinsed (leave 2 cans whole, then mash 3 cans)
1/2 lb cooked ham, cubed
1 C carrots, cut into half moons
1 C celery, diced
1 small onion, diced (~3/4 C)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil

Heat olive oil in stock pot over medium high heat.  Add carrots, celery and onion and cook until slightly soft.  Add garlic and saute for about one minute.  Add the beans, ham, bay leaf, pepper and 6 C of chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for at least 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so.  After 30 minutes, add additional chicken broth until you reach your desired consistency.  If possible, refrigerate for at least 1/2 day before serving to let the flavors combine.

Comments
 - I ended up using almost all 8 C of chicken broth
 - If you'd rather not mash the beans by hand, you can just add them whole to the soup and use an immersion blender to puree the soup a little bit
 - I ended up refrigerating this for almost 24 hours before serving - well worth the wait!

Rating
4/5

WW PointsPlus
9 (for 1 1/2 C serving)

Dark Chocolate Caramel Cookies

Thank you to Pinterest for this delicious recipe! I think these are way better than plain chocolate chip cookies.

Recipe
Dark Chocolate Caramel Cookies

Comments
 - Baking these on the tinfoil is key - I just slid the tinfoil off of the cookie sheets when the cookies were done to let them cool on the counter

Rating
4/5

Crock Pot Chicken Chili

Last weekend my brother-in-law Darrik texted me a photo of chicken chili that he was making, which inspired me to make some of my own in the crock pot this week.  This recipe is great because you can throw it together before work in about 5 minutes and then cook it on low all day.

Recipe
12 oz frozen chicken breasts
1 C frozen corn kernels
1 15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-oz can chili beans with sauce
1 15-oz can Rotel tomatoes with green chiles
1 28-oz can tomato sauce
1 packet McCormick's slow cooker chili seasoning

Add all ingredients except chicken to crock pot and stir to combine.  Add whole chicken breasts (I kind of submerged them about halfway in the sauce).  Cook on low for at least 6 hours.  About an hour before serving, remove the chicken breasts, shred with two forks, return to crock pot and stir to combine.  I topped my chili with reduced fat shredded colby jack cheese, fat free sour cream, and a few crushed multigrain tortilla chips.

I had to send a photo back to Darrik so here's the final presentation.  I couldn't rotate the photo properly but you get the idea!

Comments
 - Normally I prefer ground beef in a red chili, but this was really good and I definitely did not miss the ground beef
 - The McCormick's seasoning is fairly spicy so if you don't like a lot of spice I would nix the seasoning packet and just add a bit of chili powder to taste just before serving

Rating
5/5

WW PointsPlus
6 (makes five 1.5 C servings, does not include toppings)

Banana, Oatmeal & Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had two ripe bananas to use and decided to try this new recipe from Skinnytaste.  It literally took 5 minutes to whip these up.  I thought they might be a good recipe to try with Anna when she's old enough to help me in the kitchen.

Recipe
Banana, Oatmeal & Chocolate Chip Cookies

Comments
 - The recipe calls for walnuts but I used mini chocolate chips instead since I was going for the dessert effect versus the snack effect
 - This made 20 cookies, using 1 flat Tbsp of "dough" per cookie.  I recalculated the WWPP and it came out to 4 points for 5 cookies

Rating
4/5

WW PointsPlus
~1 per cookie

Salted Pretzel Marshmallow Bars

I've seen a few pretzel-based bar recipes on Pinterest lately and thought I'd give one a try (for Mike to take to work!).

Recipe
Salted Pretzel Marshmallow Bars

Comments
 - I didn't have peanut butter chips so I used regular creamy peanut butter
 - I ended up having to add about 1-2 Tbsp of oil to my chocolate chips to get them to the proper drizzling consistency
 - The flavor of these bars was good but between the peanut butter and the pretzels I ended up drinking like 4 glasses of water after I ate them
 - The drizzle looks nice in terms of presentation but the marshmallow pieces on top don't look very nice.  I might look for a bar recipe with the marshmallows baked into the bar next time.

Rating
3/5

Glazed Donut Muffins

I was in the baking mood last night so I made these muffins.

Recipe
Glazed Donut Muffins

Comments
 - This ended up making 16 muffins, not 12 (so the WWPP are calculated based on 16).  I only filled the cups about 2/3 full.
 - I didn't have nutmeg so I substituted the 3/4 tsp nutmeg for 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice.  Since there's cinnamon in the pumpkin pie spice I cut the cinnamon back from 3/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp.
 - Instead of dipping the muffins into the glaze I used a silicone basting brush to brush it on
 - I thought the 425° was a bit too hot for baking, so next time I'd probably reduce the heat to 375° or so and cook them a bit longer.  The bottoms cooked too quickly.

Rating
3/5

WW PointsPlus
6

Beef Barley Soup

Since I made Pot Roast today, I thought I'd use the leftovers to make my soup for the week.  The pot roast meat made for a delicious soup.  I scooped up some of the leftover mushrooms and onions from the pot roast and added them to the soup as well.

Recipe
Beef Barley Soup

Comments
 - Since I was using previously cooked meat, I cooked the carrots, onions, celery and garlic in the oil.  Then I added fat free beef broth instead of water and brought it to a boil.  I added the bay leaves and barley and cooked according to the directions, about 12 minutes.  I added the shredded pot roast at the very end and simmered for about 10 minutes.  

Rating
4/5

WW PointsPlus
8 (for 1.5 C)

Pot Roast in the Crock Pot

With today's big snowstorm I thought a crock pot meal sounded good.

Recipe

Pot Roast

Comments

 - I used a 2.25 lb chuck roast and trimmed most of the visible fat

 - I didn't have cream of mushroom soup so I used cream of chicken.  Then I added one can of sliced mushrooms.

 - When there was about an hour of cooking time left, I cut up a few red potatoes into quarters and roasted them with some baby carrots at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.  In the past I've cooked the potatoes and carrots along with the pot roast but I really liked them this new way.  The roasted veggie flavor with the pot roast gravy was a great combination.

Rating

5/5

WW PointsPlus

8 (makes 6 servings)

Smoked Turkey Sausage & Potato Casserole

This was inspired by a recipe that I saw on Pinterest.  After cooking a lot of healthy meals recently, I wanted to make one that was more husband-friendly but still low in WW PointsPlus.

Recipe

1 14-oz package Jennie-O Fully Cooked Smoked Turkey Sausage

1/4 C. onion, diced

4 C. red potatoes with the skins on, cut into ~2" pieces

1 C. reduced fat colby jack cheese, shredded

2 Tbsp I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Melt ICBINBL in a 9x13 baking pan.  Add potatoes and onions, then toss to coat.  Bake for about 30 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes or so to make sure the potatoes don't stick to the pan.  Add sliced turkey sausage and cook for another 30 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.  Check to see that the potatoes are cooked and soft, then top with the shredded cheese and bake for another 5 minutes until melted.  Season with salt and pepper.

Comments

 - The Pinterest version of this recipe recommended cooking for the 30 minute increments with foil covering the pan, thus eliminating the need to stir since you're really just steaming the potatoes.  I prefer potatoes with a crispier texture, so I chose to skip the foil and stir them more frequently.

Rating

3.5/5 (Mike gives it a 5/5)

WW PointsPlus

8 (makes 5 servings)

Nutella & Banana Wraps

Bananas and chocolate are one of my favorite combinations.

Recipe

1/2 medium banana

1 Tbsp Nutella

1 whole grain flatbread (I used Flatout Flatbreads Multi-Grain with Flax, 3 WW PP)

Spread Nutella evenly over flatbread.  Slice banana lengthwise and layer slices on 1/3 of the flatbread.  Roll it up, kind of like a flat burrito.  Spray a skillet with PAM and heat on medium.  Place wrap in the pan, seam side down, and cook for about 2 minutes or until slightly golden.  Flip and cook for another 2 minutes.

Comments

 - This is a really good tasting wrap but I didn't think it was that filling

Rating

4/5

WW PointsPlus

6