Weight Watchers Italian Zero Points Soup Recipe
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 circumstances 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
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?
Still Hungry?
MORE WEIGHT WATCHERS-FRIENDLY RECIPES STRAIGHT TO YOUR IN BOX!
If you're a Weight Watchers fan, you know how hard it is to cook AND count points. Now it's easy. Consider signing up for free e-mail notification whenever new recipes are published on A Veggie Venture (that's this food blog about vegetables) and Kitchen Parade, my food column. ALL NEW RECIPES INCLUDE WEIGHT WATCHER POINTS – Old Points, PointsPlus, SmartPoints and FreeStyle! Sign up for new recipes from A Veggie Venture and new recipes from Kitchen Parade.QUICK! QUICK! MORE RECIPES WITH THESE INGREDIENTS
zucchini fennel bell peppers spinach radicchio tomatoesMORE 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
Looking for healthy ways to cook vegetables?
A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes
and the famous Alphabet of Vegetables.
Healthy eaters will love the low carb recipes and the
Weight Watchers recipes.
© Kitchen Parade 2008 & 2018
A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes
and the famous Alphabet of Vegetables.
Healthy eaters will love the low carb recipes and the
Weight Watchers recipes.
© Kitchen Parade 2008 & 2018
Would it change the WW points to make this with chicken broth instead of vegetable broth? And might that boost the flavor profile a bit? (I'm not a huge fan of vegetable broth, perhaps because I've never been able to make one I really like from scratch.)
ReplyDeleteI think the question is the flavor of the broth itself. I tried a trick (whose?) I've been reading about, just simmering vegetables in water to make a quick broth while chopping the vegetables. I used some leek leaves and some cabbage and lettuce from my 'stock stash' in the freezer but it was decidedly watery. It is possible to make really good vegetable broth, like Light Vegetable Stock and even No-Waste Leek Stock which now, I note, which uses the green parts from five leeks versus the two I made.
ReplyDeleteBut that said, I do think a major difference was salt, which the Better Than Bouillon would add, so would all commercial stocks.
So often, it all comes down to the salt.
I'm a long time reader, but never poster. I wanted to let you know that I have started cooking and love finding recipes on your site. I even amazed myself this weekend by taking some of what you and another site had to make my own Eggplant Lasagna and to my surprise this entirely veggie lasagna turned out great!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the wonderful posts.
Zero points soup - that seems utterly unattainable in the WW world, never mind the real world. But what do I know? I've never been on WW. A first-rate recipe, no matter who enjoys it. Heart-healthy fare for anyone regardless of diet.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Brussels sprouts comment. I didn't know McGee's take on it, but it doesn't surprise me. We are all full of variously uniquely chemical compositions. Look how many despise cilantro.
Oooh, I see basil as just the garnish and I am already a fan. Delish!
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting these recipes. I have made the old stand-by Garden Vegetable soup for years now, and is nice to have some variations. However this is not my favorite. I was unable to find a fennel bulb and had to subsitute red cabbage for the raddichio, and I think that threw it off a bit. I used fat free chicken broth instead of vegetable broth since it was cheaper. I think if I had left out the cabbage and spinach it would have been better. I recommend frozen spinach to save time. I had to take the stems off the baby spinach which took me some time. Although the stems may not bother some.
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