Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

“But since soup mainly involves tossing everything in a pot and waiting,
it's one of my better dishes.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

I don't have many soups in my repertoire...yet. This is one I have adapted to our taste over time. Plus with the amount of different illnesses that are going around how could you not want a bowl of chicken noodle soup. This uses the Shredded Chicken recipe that I posted last week.

If you re not a huge fan of lemon, you may want to cut the amount of lemon juice in half. The beauty of this recipe is your can tailor it to fit your preferred taste.

I love how the Shredded Chicken give this soup a homestyle feeling.

Nutritional Information (calculated on myfitnesspal.com): 6 servings, 162 calories, 18g carbs, 3g fat, 18g protein

Ingredients:

• 1/2 T Olive Oil
• 4 Garlic Cloves, minced
• 1 Large Yellow Onion, Chopped
  

Ranch Burger Grill Packets

I didn't have a lot of time to get dinner going and needed a new idea. I had some ground beef and had heard about burger packets before so I thought I would try. Why not? If all else fails we have multiple restaurants close. (Not that we want to eat out.) These turned out nicely and I even had an extra to send for my Father-In-Law to eat since he was not able to make it for dinner.

On a separate note, if you subscribe to follow my blog in the upper right you will get notifications when a new recipe is posted. Additionally, please share the facebook post so I can help build my followers and at some point, these will not only be the recipes that I am making for dinner but also recipes I can experiment in smaller batches before feeding them to my test subjects. :-)

Let's be honest, I am not a food stylist but it tasted really good.

Nutritional Information (calculated on myfitnesspal.com): 6 servings, 227 calories, 16g carbs, 6g fat, 34g protein

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs Lean Ground Beef
• 2 Buttermilk Ranch Packet
• 2 Yukon Gold Potatoes, Sliced to 1/8-1/4" Thick
  

Butternut Squash Fries

We started a garden at our house this year. Only problem being we forgot to label what each plant was when we planted the seedlings. It became a big surprise to us what came up. I thought we had yellow squash growing but it turns out we were growing Butternut Squash really well. The plant has taken up so much of the yard that it has doubled the space our garden is taking up which was already a 15'x15' space. With that happy accident, I decided to try and use the first of what appears will be a plentiful harvest of Butternut Squash. So be prepared for more Butternut Squash Recipes to be coming in the future especially since not much else produced this year.

Nutritional Information (calculated on myfitnesspal.com): 6 servings, 149 calories, 17g carbs, 10g fat, 2g protein

Ingredients:

• 1 Large Butternut Squash
• 1/4 c Canola Oil
• 2 t Cumin
  

Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Peppers

My mom's 29th* birthday was last week and I went over to make dinner for her. When I was brainstorming with Tammy what to make we came up with this idea. I have always found stuffed peppers to be so bland and wanted to find a way to spice them up a bit. The amount of flavor in these was perfect. If you want a little more spice top with a little Tabasco. I originally calculated this recipe for a whole pepper (both sides) was a serving but after eating I found that 1 stuffed pepper with a side was more than enough.

(*actual age redacted for the safety of the author) :-)

Nutritional Information (calculated on myfitnesspal.com): 5 weight watchers points plus. 154 calories, 13g carbs, 7g fat, 11g protein.

Ingredients

• 15 oz can Enchilada Sauce
• 2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 1 Flour Tortilla, Chopped
• 1 Large Spanish Onion, Chopped
• 1 c Frozen Corn, (I used Roundys, Steam n' Serve Fire Roasted Super Sweet Corn from Mariano's)
• 1/4 c Cilantro, Chopped Finely
• 2 Garlic Cloves, Minced
• 4 Large Poblano Peppers
• 1/2 c Shredded Reduced-Fat Mexican Cheese
• 1/2 avocado, sliced thin

Directions

1. Place the frozen Chicken and Enchilada Sauce in the Slow Cooker and cook on low for 4 hours.

Skinny Tzatziki

I have made many different versions of this sauce but most were not very successful. Once I found out the secret was in straining not only the yogurt but also the cucumber this created a nice thick sauce to put on my Chicken Gyro which I will post tomorrow!

Nutritional Information (calculated on myfitnesspal.com): 0 weight watchers points plus. 21 calories, 3g carbs, 0g fat, 3g protein.

8 Servings

Ingredients

8 oz Fat Free Greek Yogurt

1 Small Cucumber

2 Garlic Cloves

Juice of 1 Lemon

1/2 t Dried Dill

1 T Chives, Chopped

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Directions

1. Peel and seed the Cucumber.
2. Grate the Cucumber on the large holes of a box grater.

Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

It has definitely turned colder over the past week and it has finally become Chili Weather!!! I love how versatile chili is. You can add and subtract just about any ingredient to make it fit your taste. I made this last night and I think I am done tweaking it (for now at least.) This chili does have a little kick to it so if you do not like spicy food cut the red pepper flakes in half. The other great part about this recipe is it makes a TON of food it comes close to filling my 6qt crock pot. This makes 10 servings at only 7 points plus (including toppings!)

Nutritional Information (calculated on myfitnesspal.com): 7 weight watchers points plus. 314 calories, 45g carbs, 3g fat, 30g protein.
(To cut the carbs in half eliminate the beans and double the ground turkey.)

Ingredients

1.25 lbs 99% Fat Free Ground Turkey Breast

1 Medium Onion, Chopped

2 Small Red Peppers, Chopped

28 oz can Whole Plum Tomatoes (I use Tuttorosso)

1.5 c Frozen White Corn

2 - 10.75 oz cans Condensed Tomato Soup. (I used the Campbells Healthy Request.)

2 - 15 oz cans Kidney Beans, Drained

15 oz can Black Beans, Drained

2 T Chili Powder

1 t Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (Use half to cut the heat.)

1/2 T Garlic Powder

Broccoli and Smashed Garlic

This is my favorite side dish to make and it is sooooo easy to make. I am not sure where I found it because I just make it from memory because I have made it so many times. Plus it makes 6 servings at only 2 Point Plus per serving.

Ingredients

1 head of Broccoli

8 Garlic Cloves, Smashed

2 T Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper, to Taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

Sometimes I get a taste for specific types of food and can't get it out of my head. I had a taste for some Mediterranean flavors a while back and wasn't finding anything that sounded good to me. I decided to create my own recipe, over the rest of the day I kept jotting down ingredients to see what might match. That night I looked at what I had jotted down and what I had in the cabinets and this recipe was born! I liked it so much that I have not even tweaked it. Even better this makes about 8 servings for only 5 points plus per serving!

Ingredients

1 lemon, juiced

4 T Olive Oil

1 T Dried Oregano

1 T Dried Rosemary

3 Garlic Cloves, Crushed or Minced

2 lbs Pork Tenderloin

1 Medium Onion, Cut into 1" Pieces

1 Green Pepper, Cut into 1" Pieces

2 T Grated Parmesan

2 T Fresh Parsley, Chopped Finely

1/4 t Salt

1/4 t Pepper

1/3 c Sun Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil, Drained, Dried and Minced
Toothpicks

Directions

1. Slice the Pork Tenderloin lengthwise but not all the way through.