“Skinny” Chicken Tortilla Soup—Made in the Crockpot

This is a PERFECT meal for these rainy days we have here in Florida. I looked up a recipe for Chicken Enchilada Soup and got general idea of what to put in it, and added my own twist like usual and made it in the crock! One serving of soup is around 8 WW points! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 8 chicken tenderloins, cubed (if using breasts, I would say about 4 large breasts would be good!)
• 16 oz. can light red kidney beans
• 16 oz. can reduced sodium black beans
• 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes with green chilies, mild
• 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, no salt added
•  8 oz. can no salt added, tomato sauce
• 32 oz. reduced sodium chicken broth
• 1 bag of frozen corn
• 2 tablespoons of Chili powder (add more if you like it spicier)
• I packet reduced sodium taco seasoning
• 1 medium onion, diced
• Yellow corn tortillas
• Salt
• Reduced fat sour cream
• 2% shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Cut the chicken into cubes and place in the bottom of the crock pot. Drain and rinse both kidney and black beans and add to the chicken. Add the 2 cans of diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, corn, chili powder, taco seasoning and diced onion. Cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 8 hours. To make tortillas, cut about 5 or 6 tortillas into strips and sprinkle salt & cooking spray on top and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until crispy. Serve soup with sour cream, cheddar cheese and hot tortilla strips! YUM YUM YUM! 

Skinny Cheesy BBQ Bacon Chicken

Since my husband and I have changed our eating habits (and lost a lot of weight doing so), I realized how easy it is to make our favorite recipes healthier.I know the title sounds fattening but once you read the ingredients, you'll see it's actually healthy! After 6 months of changing our lifestyle, my husband has lost 20 pounds and I have lost 25 and we still eat the food we love! This recipe was inspired by one of my favorite dishes. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!!


"Skinny" Cheesy BBQ Bacon Chicken

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken cutlets
• 1/2 cup barbecue sauce
• 4 slices of turkey bacon, chopped into bits (4-5 slices measures about to about 1/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup 2% cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup fresh tomatoes, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• Adobo seasoning (with pepper-it's the bottle with the red cap!)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

Season each chicken cutlet with Adobo on both sides. 

Spray a skillet with non-stick cooking spray and saute onions until golden brown.

Remove onions from pan and keep warm.

Cook the chicken in the skillet until no longer pink (about 7 minutes on each side).

Place chicken on baking sheet and top with 2 tablespoons of barbecue sauce, 2 tablespoons of cheese, 2 tablespoons of tomatoes, a handful of onions, and 2 tablespoons of turkey bacon bits.

Bake chicken in the oven for about 7 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

Serve with brown rice or baked potato and a green vegetable!

**As I'm sitting here typing this recipe, I thought about making it with Dijon mustard (instead of barbecue sauce) and goat cheese (instead of cheddar cheese)!!* I MIGHT have to try that one out!!! I'll let you know how it goes. Comment below if you made either recipe and let me know how it turned out. :) 

*Happy Cooking!*

Skinny Coconut Chicken with Coconut Brown Rice

I had a strange craving for coconut last night and I'm not really a fan of shrimp unless I'm REALLY in the mood for it or if it's from Benihana or Bonefish (Bang, Bang Shrimp). So, I found a recipe for coconut shrimp and made it WW friendly and used chicken. The total weight watchers points for 2 pieces of chicken is 8 points. I know it seems like a lot, especially when you factor in the rice (which was AAAAMAZING) but I hadn't eaten anything except fruit and vegetables all day so I needed to use my points up. Now the rice... I found a recipe for an extremely fattening white rice with coconut milk and cilantro which sounded heavenly but clearly wasn't healthy at all. The total points for 1/2 cup of the rice is 4, which really isn't that bad. Plus if you make vegetables, you can fill up on those and eat less rice and only one piece of chicken.


Skinny Coconut Chicken

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken tenderloins
• 1/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup of shredded coconut (I added a little more on top at the end--see directions)
• 2 egg whites
• dash of salt
• dash of garlic powder 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375. Beat the egg whites until blended (not fluffy!). Mix the panko & whole wheat bread crumbs with the shredded coconut and add the salt and garlic powder. Dip the chicken in the egg whites and then coat with the bread crumb mixture. Place the chicken on a baking sheet. Here is where I added the extra coconut on top. I really just grabbed a handful and sprinkled a little bit on top of each piece because I LOVE toasted coconut. Bake for 15 minutes and then flip the chicken and bake for an additional 10 minutes. DELISHHHHHHH!!!

Skinny Coconut Brown Rice

Ingredients:

• Uncle Ben's 90 Second Brown Basmati Rice (really you can use any brown rice but once you try this one, you'll become addicted. It is really the most flavorful brown rice I have ever had!)
• 1/4 cup light coconut milk
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut
• dash of ground ginger
• dash of garlic powder

Directions:

Cook the rice as per directions and add the coconut milk while the rice is still hot. Stir until well blended and add shredded coconut. Mix in the ginger and garlic powder. I tasted it after and ended up added an extra DROP of the coconut milk and it was perfect. ENJOY!

Total points for whole meal: (1 tenderloin & 1/2 cup of rice)

8 WW+ points

(2 tenderloins & 1/2 cup of rice)

12 WW+ points

Skinny Girl Italian Wonderpot

This recipe is absolutely delicious and looks pretty amazing, too! I was a little skeptical about this recipe at first because it required so many frozen and canned vegetables and processed meats SO I "Traci-fied" it up a little and added all fresh veggies and took out the meat. I served the pasta with some Italian Seasoned chicken and it was the perfect addition! ENJOY!!!

Ingredients:

•         4 cups of low sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
•          2 tablespoons olive oil
•         12 oz whole wheat pasta (I used thin spaghetti)
•       1 ½ cups fresh spinach leave
•        1 large tomato, chopped
•      1 medium onion, diced
•        4 cloves of fresh garlic, diced
•       ½ tablespoon dried basil
•      ½ tablespoon dried oregano
•       ½ tablespoon Italian seasoning
•      ½ teaspoon garlic powder
•         ½ teaspoon onion powder
•         ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
•         ¼ teaspoon of salt & pepper
•          2 oz. feta cheese

Directions:

1. Boil four cups of chicken broth in a large pot. Break pasta in half and add to the pot. Add tomatoes, olive oil, spinach, onion, garlic, basil, oregano, Italian seasoning, red pepper, salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.
2. Make sure that all ingredients are submerged under the liquid, add a little more broth if needed and place the lid on top of the pot. Turn the heat to high until the pot comes to a FULL boil. Once this happens, remove the lid and turn the heat down to medium.
3. Allow the pot to boil WITHOUT the lid for 10-15 minutes or until the pasta is cooked and most of the liquid has been absorbed. Stir the pot to prevent the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pot, but BE CAREFUL not to OVER STIR which will cause the pasta to become mushy and sometimes, sticky. *IMPORTANT* The pot MUST be boiling the entire time!!!
4. Once the pasta is cooked, crumble the feta cheese over top and serve!

*NOTE:* 1 cup of cooked, whole wheat pasta is 5 points. With that being said, the only only additional points you need to factor into this recipe is for the chicken broth & feta cheese. 1 cup of fat free, low sodium chicken broth is zero points, but because 4 cups is used throughout the recipe, you have to add 1 point (which isn't bad at all!) The feta cheese is 1 point as well unless you go crazy and load your pasta up with cheese! So overall, this recipe is 7 points!

WW Points Plus: 7  

"Skinny" Cheeseburger Pie--a Skinny Mom (AKA Brooke Griffin) Recipe!!

I am extremely excited about this recipe because this is my husbands favorite dish EVER. Every year for his birthday, his mom would make him Cheeseburger Pie (I honestly thought she created the dish because I had never heard of it before). When we got married, my amazing mother-in-law gave me the recipe and I continued the tradition. I made it for my cousin Shara, her husband Eric and my aunt Sharon and they were instant fans of the dish! I mean how can you not love a dish with onions, cheese, meat and an amazing mouthwatering crust topped with ketchup??? Well it's not exactly the HEALTHIEST meal in the world so needless to say, it's been a LONG time since I've made it. You can imagine my excitement when I came across this "skinny" version of it! This is NOT my recipe...I haven't even made it yet, but I am SO excited about it that I wanted to share it with you girls!!! I will let you know how it turns out!!! Comment below if you make it and let me know how it is!!!! :)



"Skinny" Cheeseburger Pie

(Compliments of http://www.skinnymom.com (AKA Brooke Griffin) SHE IS AMAZINGGGG. If you don't follow her blog, you need to. Her recipes are phenomenal and she is truly an inspiration!!) 

Ingredients:

•  1 lb lean ground turkey
•  1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 1 Tbsp garlic, minced
• 1 package reduced-fat crescent rolls
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
•  1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp pepper
•  3/4 cup reduced-fat, shredded cheddar cheese
• 4 slices of tomato

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown turkey, onion, and garlic in a large frying pan on medium heat.
2. Drain meat of fat/grease (if any). Mix Worcestershire sauce in with meat mixture. Reduce heat to low.
3. Spray a 9 1/2 inch pie pan with nonstick cooking spray. Take the crescent rolls and place them in the pan like puzzle pieces to form the bottom and the crust. Pinch the seems together.
4. Place the pan with just the dough in the oven and bake for 8 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix cottage cheese with egg.
6. When the 8 minutes are up, spoon the meat mixture into the pie pan. Pour the cottage cheese mixture over the meat. Top with shredded cheddar cheese.
7. Place tomato slices on top. I normally just place four big pieces on top and then fill in the spaces with a few pieces of diced tomato.
8. Bake for an additional 27-35 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 5 points per serving

Serving: 1 slice

I can't wait to try this! :) Happy Cooking!

Skinny Ground Turkey Chili

Skinny Ground Turkey Chili 

Servings: 6 Serving Size: 1 cup of chili  WW Points+: 7 pts 

I have made this recipe SO many times, and every time I make it, it gets better and better! It really is SO easy and SO good and the best part is, it's healthy! 

Ingredients:

• 2.5 pounds of ground turkey breast 
• minced garlic
• 1 large yellow onion
• 1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies
• 1 can diced tomatoes, no salt added
• 1 can spicy chili beans
• onion powder
• garlic powder
• chili powder
• cumin
• Optional: whole wheat penne pasta to serve chili over
• Optional: reduced fat cheddar cheese, fat free sour cream

Directions:

Spray non stick pan with cooking spray and saute garlic and onion. Add turkey and cook until no longer pink. Add both cans of diced tomatoes and chili beans. Simmer on high for 5 minutes. Add onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder and cumin to taste. *Add more chili powder and cumin for a spicier chili. Let chili cook for 15 minutes. *If using pasta, cook at the same time

Serve chili hot over pasta with cheddar cheese and sour cream!

YUM!

Skinny Chicken Teriyaki with Brown Rice & Broccoli

Skinny Chicken Teriyaki with Brown Rice & Broccoli

Servings: 4 Serving Size: 1/2 cup of rice, 1/2 cup of broccoli, 1 cup of chicken WW Points+: 7 pts 

This is one of my favorite dishes because it's filling and there's lots of leftovers for lunches for the next day!!! Make sure you portion the rice though because it can add the extra points!!! I don't know about you, but whenever I make brown rice, it seems too BLAH. So, what I used to do was mix in a little low sodium chicken broth for added flavor and less dry rice. BUT, recently I found a brown rice that is SO moist and delicious!!! Uncle Ben's Basmati Brown Rice--right now, I've only found it in the single packages but my mother-in-law found a huge box at Sam's Club and I plan on getting some from her!!! Anyway, for this recipe you can use ANY brown rice you want! Here you go:


Ingredients:

• 4 large chicken breasts, cut into cubes
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 uncooked green scallions OR 1 large yellow onion* 
• 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce*
• 2 cups cooked brown rice
• 4 cups steamed broccoli*

*Depending on what I have in the house, I will use either scallions or onions. We LOVE onions in my house so 99% of the time I use a yellow onion. This doesn't change the point value so feel free to use either one

*Teriyaki sauce--I use the Publix brand and it's great!

*Steamfresh Broccoli is the way to go for this recipe. Just pop the bag in the microwave and you're ready to go--you CAN steam the broccoli if you like--here's how: 

*To steam broccoli, place florets in a microwave safe dish and add about 1/2 of water and cover the dish. Microwave on high for about 4 minutes until the broccoli is tender. 

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Directions:

Spray skillet with non stick cooking spray and heat on medium until hot. *Start microwaving your rice and broccoli and set aside. Then, add garlic and onions and cook for about a minute. Add chicken cubes and cook for about 5 minutes while stirring. Add the chicken broth and teriyaki sauce and simmer until the chicken is cooked thoroughly, about 5 minutes. *At this time, your broccoli and rice should be ready* Spoon ½ cup of rice and with 1 cup of chicken mixture into bowl and top with ½ cup of broccoli! Enjoy!!! J

Skinny Corned Beef & Cabbage

Skinny Corned Beef & Cabbage

Servings: 6 Serving Size: ¼ piece of corned beef with vegetables  WW Points+: 8 pts 

In honor of it being the day after St. Patrick’s Day, I decided to share my FAVORITE crock pot corned beef recipe. It doesn’t have the FULL flavor of most crock pot corned beef dishes because it’s a WW version, but I make a YUMMY WW friendly horseradish sauce that my husband RAVED about. I made it Sunday this year since we both worked 12 hour days on Monday, and we had leftovers for lunch the next day (which was St. Patty’s!). Anyway, here ya go!!!

Ingredients:

For the corned beef

·         2.5 pounds of corned beef (with coriander seeds seasoning)

·         1 head of cabbage

·         Garlic powder

·         Onion powder

·         1 onion

·         1 bag of baby carrots

·         6 small red potatoes

·         2 cups of water

·         1 cup of LIGHT beer

Horseradish sauce:

·         ¼ cup NON CREAMED horseradish (you can find this in the refrigerated section next to where the cold jarred pickles are kept)

·         ¼ cup fat free sour cream

·         ¼ cup Dijon mustard

**This is an ADDITIONAL 5 points per serving so use SPARINGLY. I actually ended up using plain yellow mustard so I could eat more corned beef! J

Directions:

Cut up the onion & carrots and put them in the bottom of the pan. Pour 1 cup of water over the vegetables. Trim the fat off of the beef and place it on top of the vegetables. Add the coriander seeds. Pour ½ cup of light beer on top of the corned beef. Cook on high for 4 hours. After the first 4 hours, cut up red potatoes and place around corned beef. If most of the liquid has absorbed, add remaining water and beer, if not, check in another hour. After 6 hours, cut the cabbage into wedges and place on top of corned beef. 

**NOTE, once cabbage cooks, it will shrink and you will be able to add more! Corned beef ALSO shrinks! Everything should be ready after 7-8 hours depending on your crock pot.

For the horseradish sauce:

Mix all three ingredients together and spread on top of corned beef!

Traci's Skinny Turkey Volcano Balls

Traci's Skinny Turkey Volcano Balls

Servings: 6 turkey balls Serving Size: 1 Turkey Meatball  WW Points+: 4 pts 

I had a craving for spaghetti and meatballs but I didn’t have whole wheat pasta or lean ground beef! Go figure, right?  So I decided to make turkey balls instead! I had read a recipe for a “Meatloaf Volcano” a while back and it looked AMAZINGLY delicious but it was also about 2,938 (over exaggeration!) calories!! Here’s the next best thing!!!!! These little balls of heaven turned out SO good that I didn’t even NEED the pasta to go with them. We ate them by themselves with some steamed broccoli!! YUM YUM YUM!!!

So here’s what you need:

***In addition to the FOOD ingredients, you’ll need a 6 cup muffin pan.

Ingredients:

·         2 pounds of ground turkey breast

·         1  ½ cups of whole wheat breadcrumbs

·         1 ½ cups of tomato sauce divided in half—you’ll use half in the mixture and half as extra sauce  (I used canned tomato sauce, no salt added, but you can use whatever you have in your pantry!)  

·         2 egg whites

·         Pinch of salt

·         Part skim mozzarella cheese cube, cut it into 12 cubes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray and set aside.

Combine turkey breast, breadcrumbs, ¾ cup of tomato sauce, egg whites and salt in a large bowl and shape into balls.

Press cheese cube (or handful of shredded cheese) into each ball, sealing meal around the cheese. Put turkey balls into muffin pan and bake for 30 minutes. Heat remaining sauce in microwave or stove top. When turkey balls are ready, top with remaining sauce and serve hot!

Skinny Chicken Enchiladas

Skinny Chicken Enchiladas

Servings: 6 Serving Size: 1 enchilada  WW Points+: 4 pts 

This recipe makes 6 servings—I don’t think I used enough chicken because my mixture was running low after the first few so next time I will use bigger tenderloins. My husband had 2 for dinner, I had one and then we each had the same leftovers for lunch the next day. Let me tell you something about these enchiladas… THEY. ARE. SO. AMAZING. Yes, they are time consuming and yes you have to make the sauce from scratch but they ARE WORTH IT!!!! Every bite makes you question whether or not these are actually LOW-FAT!!!! But, they are! Now when you are buying the whole wheat tortillas, look for LOW CARB options.

I originally got the idea of this recipe from another website, but again I tweaked it. The originally recipe called for chipotle chilies but I am not a huge spice lover (although my husband is) so I omitted them. I also added chicken broth to the sauce whereas the original recipe had something else that I can’t remember right now!  Anyway, here you go!!!

Ingredients: 

**NOTE: The measurements for the spices are APPROXIMATIONS because I don't measure them--I do it to taste!!!***

For the sauce:

·                     2 garlic cloves, minced

·                     1-2 tbsp adobo seasoning

·                     1-1/2 cups tomato sauce

·                     1/2 tsp chili powder

·                     1/2 tsp ground cumin

·                     3/4 cup fat free chicken broth

·                     Salt and pepper (to taste)

For the chicken: 

·                     1 tsp vegetable oil

·                     4 large chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

·                     2 cloves of fresh garlic (or minced garlic)

·                     salt

·                     1 tsp cumin

·                     1/2 tsp oregano

·                     1 tsp chili powder

·                     1/3 cup chicken broth

·                     1/2 cup tomato sauce

·                     8 whole wheat flour tortillas (try and get the reduced carb ones for fewer points!)

·                     1 cup shredded low fat Mexican cheese

·                     non-stick cooking spray

·                     1/2 cup chopped scallions & Fat free sour cream (optional: for topping & will be extra points –decide if it’s worth it! I love sour cream so I used 2 points worth since ONE enchilada is ONLY 4 points!!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Boil chicken breasts in ½ water, ½ chicken broth for 25-30 minutes, depending on size of chicken breasts. The first time I made this I used chicken tenderloins and boiled them for 25 minutes. While chicken is boiling, make the sauce.

Spray oil in a medium saucepan and sauté the garlic. Then add the adobo seasoning, chili powder, cumin, chicken broth, tomato sauce, salt and pepper. (I know it seems like a lot of ingredients but the sauce is AMAZING) Bring the sauce to a boil and then reduce the heat to low. Let the sauce simmer for about 7 minutes. Taste it….If you like spicier sauce, add some more chili powder. Turn the heat down to low and keep it warm until you’re ready to use it. Now your chicken should be ready or close to it. Depending on how much time you have (I am very impatient, especially when I’m hungry), you can choose to let the chicken sit and cool. I, however, chose to run the chicken under cold water until I could shred it without burning my hand! With that being said, however you choose to do it, shred the chicken breasts in tiny pieces. I read somewhere to use two forks to separate them easier but I found that using my hands worked a lot quicker!

Now that you've shredded the chicken, heat vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat and sauté onions and garlic for about 2-3 minutes. Add shredded chicken salt, cumin, oregano, chili powder, tomato sauce and chicken broth and cook for 5 minutes. Taste it..if you like it spicier, add more chili powder. Remove chicken from heat and set aside.

Get your baking dish out (I used an aluminum one and I THINK it was a 13x9). Put a spoonful of chicken mixture into each tortilla and roll it up placing in SEAM SIDE DOWN in the dish. Top with sauce and then with cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 20-25 minutes.

I added low fat sour cream and scallions on top for extra flavor! (don’t forget to add the 2 points for sour cream if you use it!)

I served this dish with fat free refried beans topped with feta cheese! YUM!!!!!!!!!!!

**PICTURES TO COME SOON!***

Skinny Pizza Stuffed Mushrooms

Pizza-Stuffed Mushrooms

Entire recipe (6 stuffed mushrooms): 87 calories, 3g fat, 229mg sodium, 7g carbs, 1g fiber, 3.5g sugars, 9.5g protein -- PointsPlus® value 2* 

I CAN NOT TAKE CREDIT FOR THIS RECIPE--BUT I HAD TO SHARE!!!! 

This recipe can be found on http://www.hungry-girl.com   

Pizza topped with mushrooms is great, so it only makes sense that mushrooms topped with pizza goodness are excellent as well! These guilt-free bites are almost too easy to make...

Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes


Ingredients:
6 medium baby bella mushrooms (each about 2 inches wide), stems removed and reserved
2 tbsp. canned crushed tomatoes
1 piece Mini Babybel Light cheese, finely chopped
Seasonings: garlic powder, dried basil, onion powder

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray. 



Place mushroom caps on the sheet, rounded sides down. Bake until tender, 8 - 10 minutes. Leave oven on.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, generously season crushed tomatoes. Finely chop half of the mushroom stems (save the rest for another use or discard), and stir into tomatoes.

Blot away excess moisture from mushroom caps. Evenly distribute sauce mixture among the mushroom caps, and sprinkle with finely chopped cheese. Bake until sauce is hot and cheese has melted, about 3 minutes. 



MAKES 1 SERVING