Sunday Soup

One of my very favorite things about being on the Weight Watchers point system is Sunday Soups!  Joseph makes a big pot of soup on Sunday afternoon, and we eat it throughout the week.  Sometimes we serve it over rice, and sometimes we eat it with bread.  Joseph is a phenomenal cook, and his soups are so good.  And the best part is, the soups are very low in points so you can fill up on a lot of soup and still be well under your daily allotment. 

The soup lasts all week, too, which shaves time off of meal planning and saves a ton of money we would spend on dinners throughout the week.  The recipes come from Joseph’s own head, and in these twelve years together, I've never had the same soup twice.  Every one of them is delicious. 

This week’s Sunday Soup was spicy!  (Joseph, being a little bit Cajun, is a fan of spicy.)  This time, I wrote down the ingredients.  And for your cooking pleasure, I am going to share the recipe with you guys:

Joseph’s Sunday Soup:  Spicy Chicken Bayou 

Onions (sweet is our favorite) x 3

Celery hearts x 2

Green Bell Peppers x 3
12 cups water

¼ cup of Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning (maybe half of this for my fellow Yankees, I've learned to live with extra spice over the years)

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts x 3 (The size we used were large, but the quantity of chicken can change those points, so weigh it just to be safe)

Rue (See below)

Bay leaves x 5

1 tablespoon dried oregano

2 tablespoons dried basil

3 tablespoons of minced garlic

15 tablespoons of Better than Bouillon Chicken Base

1.        Chop onions, celery hearts, green peppers and simmer on medium heat in a large soup pot (don’t forget to spray the pot with cooking spray).  Cook the vegetables slowly, stirring occasionally until the peppers become tender and the onions start to melt down. 

2.       Add enough water to fill above the 4 quart line and bring to a boil. 

3.       Stir in the Chicken Base, Tony Chachere’s, and Bay leaves.  Add the rue. 

4.       Add Chicken, chopped into sizes that fit your personal tastes.  Allow the soup to come back up to a boil.  Then add the minced garlic. 

5.       Allow the soup to boil down, stirring occasionally until it reduces to a little under 4 quarts (Joseph usually boils it down to our 20 cup mark.)

The Rue:

Now, the biggest secret to Joseph’s soupy success is his rue; he makes amazing rue.  His usual method is to put 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a well-seasoned iron skillet.  He heats the oil up, then whisks in 1/3 of a cup of flour.  He keeps the whisk (or he uses a spoon if he forgets to pull the whisk out) moving constantly while the oil heats the flour.  He browns it to a color similar to brown sugar.  He said people can make it lighter or darker depending on what they like in a rue.  Joseph’s rue has a nutty flavor, like toasted walnuts fresh from the oven.  It always smells like home. 

So, if the soup is boiled down to 20 cups, and you use the same size chicken breasts as we did, you will come up with a soup that is worth 1.3 points per 8 oz. cup.  We charged ourselves 1.5 points per cup so it would fit neatly into our smart phones’ point counters.  When served over a half cup serving of instant rice, it makes a hearty meal for 4.5 points.  It’s very filling and very good. 

Friday’s Totals:

I forgot to post my weigh in total on Friday, so I will post it here:

Weight:  160 lbs

Weight loss:  2.6 lbs

BMI: 23 (down from 23.3!)

Exercise units: I’m working on it.