12 February 2012

Jerk Chicken Soup

So, I have been making an effort this month to try one new recipe a week. Last week it was enchilada casserole from Cooking Light. This week, I modified a recipe I found on Weight Watchers dot com. I tweaked it enough that I will just claim it as my own.

1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp Tony Chachere's cajun seasoning
1 tsp black pepper
4 tsp olive oil, divided
1.25 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs - cut into bite sized pieces
2 cloves garlic
1/2 large onion, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1 (14.5 oz) can fire roasted tomatoes with peppers, onion and garlic (I used HyVee brand)
1 (14.5 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups fat-free, low sodium chicken broth
1/2 lime, juiced
2-3 TBS chopped fresh cilantro


Mix the first 5 ingredients (dried spices) in a small bowl. Toss with the cut up chicken and set aside.
In a 4 quart soup pot, saute garlic, onion and bell peppers in 2 tsp olive oil until soft. Add in tomatoes, beans and chicken broth.
In a large non-stick skillet, cook chicken in 2 tsp olive oil until mostly done. Add to the soup. 
Cook for at least 20 minutes until chicken is cooked through. 
Just before serving, squeeze in juice from 1/2 lime and stir in cilantro.


This is pretty spicy and I imagine my leftovers will be even more so. You can cut back on the amount of the spices to make it more mild, or some diced avocado or a little light sour cream might help tone it down, too. 


This makes 6 servings, about 1.5 cups each. By my calculations, it's 6 WW points per serving. 

06 February 2012

So...we took some time off

Miner and I took a whole bunch of time off, actually. There are some fun new projects coming up on the house that we'll be able to report on soon. We've also started back up with our runs and walks, so I can report out on those, too. I kept a separate exercise and weight loss blog for a while, but I think I'd rather consolidate all that stuff here.

We just finished our run/walk for today. 1.54 miles in 22:38 minutes. Not too shabby. It was chilly and cloudy, but I'm feeling great. :-)