Wednesday - What's For Dinner? and a few cooking mishaps

I just started WW a few days ago & have been retraining myself to eat much healthier foods than I've been heretofore shoveling into my mouth. In general, I am an all-or-nothing eater - very healthy or very not. My new best friend? SOUP! Here are a few (two) of my favorite soup recipes - both with a Mexican theme.

WHITE CHILI (Betty Crocker's cookbook)

1 T vegetable oil
2 medium onions, chopped (1 cup)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 cups chicken broth
2 T chopped fresh cilantro or 1/2 tsp ground coriander
2 T lime juice
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/4 teaspoon red pepper sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 can corn, drained
1 can great northern beans, drained & rinsed
1 can butter beans, drained & rinsed
2 cups chopped chicken breast
TOPPINGS (below)

Heat oil in 4-quart Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook onions & garlic in oil, stirring occasionally, until onions are tender.
Stir in remaining ingredients except chicken. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered 20 minutes. Stir in chicken; simmer until hot. WW = 6 points + toppings

Toppings: shredded cheese, crushed tortilla chips, chopped green onions, diced tomatoes, fresh cilantro, sliced avocado (the best!), sour cream - for sprinkling over the chili.

BLACK BEAN SOUP from CL January 2003
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=698615

8 servings
1 (7-ounce) can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (I skip this ingredient frequently.)
Cooking spray
2 cups coarsely chopped onion (I loved frozen onions! They make me cook more!!!)
1 cup chopped carrot
3/4 cup thinly sliced celery
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 bay leaves
2 cups water
3 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans vegetable broth
2 (14.5-ounce) cans no-salt-added plum tomatoes, undrained and chopped
1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
8 lime wedges

Remove 2 chiles from can; reserve remaining chiles and sauce for another use. Finely chop chiles. Heat a large Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot, celery, and garlic; sauté 8 minutes or until onion and carrot are tender. Stir in chiles, cumin, basil, oregano, chili powder, and bay leaves; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in water, beans, broth, and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Partially cover, reduce heat, and simmer 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat; discard bay leaves. Place 3 cups of soup mixture in a blender. Let stand 5 minutes***; process until smooth. Return pureed mixture to pan, stirring to combine. (I use an immersion blender & just blend up some of it. ... still chunky.) Ladle 1 1/4 cups soup into each of 8 bowls; top each serving with 1 tablespoon yogurt and 1 1/2 teaspoons cilantro. Serve with lime wedges. WW = 3 points!!! 169 calories, 1 g fat, 10.9 g fiber.

*** If you choose to not let the soup cool down for five minutes, it will be really hot & the steam/heat/whatever will build up in your blender with the lid on & EXPLODE onto the kitchen ceiling, cabinets, & floor while the missionaries waiting for dinner look on in stunned amazement. Really, it could happen!!!

*** One other bad cooking experience - I was making pork chops (although I don't know why, we never really make pork) for the missionaries & I burned the pork chops. The smoke detector started blaring loudly for the whole neighborhood (it was part of an alarm system). I decided to open the front door & then use a large flat object to fan the smoke towards the door. Oh-Jenna-the-most-clever, what did you use? A box of cereal. An unopened box? you might think. Oh no, open! As I fanned the smoke detector, Special K cereal flew EVERYWHERE in all directions. Once again, the missionaries were able to view this.