Recipe For Success

Back down to 167.2 this morning, which loses most of last week's gain. (It was 166 yesterday morning, and 165.6 the day before that. Stupid Wednesday gain.) I really don't have much to say about it, one way or the other.

But I'd been meaning to document a couple of recent recipe discoveries, so I might as well do that.

Cauliflower Soup
8 oz of chopped onion
1 tsp butter
1 head of cauliflower, cut into chunks
1 16-oz can of diced potatoes, drained (or 12 oz of diced fresh potato)
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth or stock2 cups of water (or more as needed)
1/2 tsp caraway seed
salt and pepper to taste

Coat the bottom of a large stock pot with cooking spray and place over medium-high heat. Add the butter and the onion, sprinkle with salt to help the onion sweat, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion begins to caramelize. Add the potatoes, cauliflower, spices, broth, and water, bring to a boil, and simmer until the vegetables are tender and soft, about 15 minutes. Use a stick blender to puree the vegetables to the desired consistency.

Weirdly, this tastes much more strongly of potato than it does of cauliflower. It's an extremely versatile soup, and just about any favorite spice combination would do nicely. My daughter and I both love this soup.

If you split it into 6 servings of about 2 cups each, it's about 1.5 points per serving.

Stuffed Zucchini
3 pounds fresh zucchini (6-8 small or 4 large)
8 oz lean ground beef (7% fat or less)
1/4 c. egg substitute
1/4 c. bread crumbs
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Split the zucchini in half lengthwise. Trim the stem ends if necessary, leaving as much flesh as possible. Using a melon baller or grapefruit spoon, carefully scoop a trough out of the center of each half, saving the innards. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and arrange the hollowed zucchini halves on it. Chop the reserved zucchini innards finely and put in a mixing bowl along with the ground beef, egg substitute, 1 Tbsp. of the cheese, 1 Tbsp of the bread crumbs, and the spices. Stir until well-mixed, then divide the beef mixture into the zucchini halves. Sprinkle the remaining bread crumbs and cheese over the tops, and bake at 350 for about half an hour, until the zucchini is soft and the beef cooked through.

Divided into 4 servings, this is 3 points per serving. And they are BIG servings. If you're using smaller zucchini and a couple of filling side-dishes, this could easily split to 6-8 servings. Half a pound of hamburger doesn't seem like all that much, but once you've mixed it in with the zucchini innards, it stretches surprisingly well -- and my son, who hates zucchini, ate the filling without noticing a thing.