Poached Salmon with Cucumber-Dill Sauce

Ingredients:

Salmon:

• 2 cups dry white wine
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 tsp. chicken-flavored bouillon cubes
• 6 peppercorns
• 4 sprigs fresh dillweed
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 rib of celery
• 1 small lemon, sliced
• 6 (4 oz.) salmon fillets, 1/2-inch thick

Cucumber-Dill Sauce:

• 1/3 cup peeled, seeded, finely chopped cucumber
• 1/3 cup fat-free sour cream
• 1/3 cup plain fat-free yogurt
•  2 tsp. chopped fresh dillweed
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• fresh dillweed sprigs

Makes 6 Servings 

To make the salmon:

1. Combine the wine, water, bouillon peppercorns, dillweed, bay leaves, celery, and lemon in a skillet. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the salmon to the mixture in the skillet and cook for 10 minutes or until the fish flakes easily.
2. Transfer the salmon to a platter, using a slotted spoon. Cover, and chill thoroughly. Discard the liquid mixture remaining in the skillet.

To make the cucumber-dill sauce:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the cucumber, sour cream, yogurt, dillweed and mustard.
2. To serve, place the fillets on individual serving plates. Spoon the sauce evenly over the fillets. Garnish with fresh dillweed sprigs, if using. 

WW POINTS VALUE: 6 pts. 

Note: This recipe appears in the South Beach Diet Book. This is a delicious dinner to kick-start your healthy lifestyle or if and when you fell off the healthy bandwagon and want to jump back on. If you don't want to poach the salmon, you can marinate the salmon in this liquid, grill the salmon and then serve the salmon with grilled vegetables of your choice with the Cucumber-Dill sauce. The sauce is actually nice with the grilled fish and vegetables. 

Italian-Style Black Bean Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. dried black beans
• 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 medium red bell peppers, finely chopped
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 tbsp. ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 6 cups lower-sodium vegetable broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/8 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
• lime wedges, chopped fresh cilantro, diced red onion, diced avocado and/or reduced-fat sour cream for garnish

Makes 8 Servings

1.  Place the beans in a large bowl. Cover with water and soak for at least 6 hours or over night. Drain.
2. In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the bell peppers, onions, and celery and cook until softened, about 10 minutes.
3. Add the garlic, cumin, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in the broth and remove from the heat.
4. In a 5-to 6-quart slow cooker, combine the beans, bay leaves, baking soda, and a pinch of salt. Pour the vegetable mixture over the beans. Cover and cook over high heat for about 5 hours, or until beans are creamy (or cook for 8 hours on low heat.)
5. Discard the bay leaves. Ladle about 1 1/2 cups of the soup into a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Return to the slow cooker and stir in the lime juice. Serve  hot with your favorite garnishes.

WW POINTS VALUE: 6 pts.

Note: This recipe appears in the South Beach Diet Super Quick Cookbook. This soup is a great way to kick-start your healthy lifestyle. It's creamy, flavorful and very soothing. This vegetarian soup is comforting with a kick of cumin. I highly recommend adding tomatoes or avocado to the soup for more flare to kick it up a notch.

Drumsticks Roasted with Garlic

Ingredients:

• 4 celery sticks, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large Golden delicious apple, cored & chopped
• 2 tsp. finely chopped fish tarragon
• 1 tsp. finely chopped fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 8 (5 oz.) chicken drumsticks, skinned
• 1 large head garlic, broken into cloves and peeled

Makes 4 Servings (2 drumsticks with 1 cup vegetables and sauce per serving)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a  9 x 13-inch baking pan with nonstick spray.
2. Combine the onion, celery, apple, tarragon, and thyme in a large bowl; turn into the baking pan and spread out, making a bed for the drumsticks. Tuck the bay leaves into the vegetables, then sprinkle the salt and pepper over the mixture. Lay the drumsticks on top, then tuck in the garlic cloves, pushing them down among the vegetables.
3. Cover the baking pan and bake until the vegetables are soft and an instant-read thermometer inserted in a drumstick registers 165 F, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
4. Discard the bay leaves. Place 2 drumsticks in each of 4 bowls, then spoon the vegetables and roasted garlic around them, like a stew.

WW POINTS VALUE: 5 pts.

 

Note: This recipe appears in the WW Ultimate Chicken Cookbook. Here is another take on comfort food. It's basically chicken and vegetables with roasted garlic. It's different but it has a nice aftertaste to it. Baking the garlic cloves with the chicken and vegetables mellows the garlic's flavor. When the cooking is done, squeeze out the pulp and eat it with the chicken or spread it on toasted slices of French bread for an additional 2 points.

Old-Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 (3 lb.) chicken, cut into 8 pieces & skinned, giblets discarded
• 7 cups water
• 6 carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 3 celery stalks, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 onions, cut into eighths
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 freshly ground black pepper 
• 2 cups broad egg noodles
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 2 tsp. dried thyme, crumbled
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Make 6 Servings ( 2 cups per serving)

1. Bring the chicken, water, carrots, celery, onions, bay leaves, salt, and pepper to a boil in a large soup pot. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the chicken is tender and cooked through, about 45 minutes.
2. Lift the chicken from the soup and set aside until cool enough to handle. Pull he chicken meat from the bones, then tear or cut it into bite-size pieces.
3. Discard the bay leaves. Add the noodles and return the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the noodles are tender, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato and thyme; parsley and return 2 cups of the chicken to the soup; heat through, about 3 minutes.

WW POINTS VALUE: 4 pts. 

 

Note: This recipe appears in the WW Ultimate Chicken Cookbook.  This is what I call one of the ultimate comfort foods. I loved chicken noodle soup when I was growing up but it was always from a can. I never knew how good chicken noodle soup could be when I made it from scratch. This chicken noodle soup will win over anyone. It has lots of flavor and vegetables in it too. The herbs are the key to making this soup flavorful. I also added some minced garlic while cooking the vegetables because garlic always makes everything taste better.