CHICKEN MEATBALL and ORZO SOUP



Happy 2023! It's the start of the New Year again, and we're trying to reduce our caloric intake and our waistlines.  A lot happened last year. We sold our Falls Church, VA house, moved to Richmond, VA. We have had a large Richmond house restored and it's lovely, and we love our new town.

All these changes meant added stress, a disregard of our exercise routines, comfort eating and drinking more than we should.  I have only gained a few pounds but it's probably due not only to extra fat, but to loss of muscle mass as well. 

So - new year, new us!  I found out my company subsidizes WeightWatchers, and the monthly subscription is only about $8.  I have had a lot of fun looking at different recipes on their app/website to try to get some good ideas for meals and snacks.

This recipe was adapted from the website damneddelicious.net, and it's really WW friendly.  One serving is only 3 points.  I made a few changes, mainly added extra spice to the meatballs. I also added the spinach and cannelli beans. We had two visitors for lunch a couple weeks ago, and I added the beans and spinach to stretch the soup for additonal people. Bon Appetit!


Adapted from a recipe found on DamnedDelicious.net

(https://damndelicious.net/2018/01/24/chicken-meatball-noodle-soup/)

 

FOR THE CHICKEN MEATBALLS

PreHeat OVEN to 375F.

In glass or metal bowl, combine the following:

 

1 pound ground chicken

⅓ cup Panko

⅓ cup  freshly grated Parmesan

½ teaspoon dried oregano

½ teaspoon dried basil

½ teaspoon dried parsley

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

 

Using a wooden spoon or clean hands, stir until well combined. Roll the mixture into 3/4-to-1-inch meatballs, forming about 25-30 meatballs, and place on a cookie sheet or baking pan lined with parchment paper or foil.  Bake for 12-15 minutes until slightly browned.

 

While the meatballs are cooking, in a large stock pot, heat

 

1 TBLS Olive Oil

 

Add, and sautee for 3 minutes until the onions begin to soften,

 

1 large onion, diced

 

Add, and saute for 4 – 5 minutes,

 

4 cloves garlic, minced (I use a food processor)

3 carrots, peeled and diced (I use a food processor)

2 stalks celery, diced (I use a food processor)

½ teaspoon dried thyme

 

Add, and cook for 8 – 10 minutes until the orzo is done.

 

8 cups chicken stock

2 bay leaves

2/3 cup uncooked orzo pasta

 

When Orzo is done, add

 

14 oz can of Cannelli Beans (optional)

10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess liquid (optional)

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves, or 2 tsps dried parsley

 

Serve immediately.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mike & Clark's 2023 Year-End Newsletter - ft. A Year In Us-Sies!

Image
  Seasons Greetings from Mike and Clark ! First a  mea culpa  if you did not receive our 2022 Holiday letter. It was only after we started getting a fair number of them returned to us that we realized that the city, state and zip code were missing from some of the mailing labels we had printed. “UNABLE TO DELIVER” snarled the hand-stamped response from the USPS. But by then daffodils were starting to bloom so we abandoned a resend effort in favor of correcting the problem this holiday season. If you get this, we’ve succeeded! Our 2023 began with the completion of a 6-month exterior renovation of our Richmond home, which we and our housemates and co-owners David & Cheryl Lederle-Ensign refer to as “3 Chimneys.” We were very pleased with the work and had only a few items remaining on the punch list when we made our final payment in late February. A mere ten days later, however, our contractor, Fabling Built, abruptly ceased operations leaving some 80 other projec...
Read more

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Stew

Image
I am still looking for low fat, vegan soup options for our two 'fasting' days. I combined two different recipes, that I found out on the intertubes and the results were WONDERFUL, you have the black beans with a with savory spices and big chunks of sweet potato that add a subtle nutty, sweetness. It's hearty enough to stick with you for a while. About The Beans :  this recipe uses one whole pound of black beans.  I made them from dried beans, because I had the time and it's no big deal, they take approximately a couple hours ( pick through for small stones, add a tsp of salt, cover with water, bring them to a boil and remove from heat, soak for an hour, then cook until they are tender - black beans take about 30 - 40 minutes).  You don't don't have to babysit them, which makes it easy if you work-from-home.  One pound of dried beans yields about 6 - 7 cups of cooked beans.  If you don't care to cook your own beans, use three 15-oz cans of canned black bean...
Read more

Perfect (and super easy) Shortbread Crust

Image
A few years ago, my friend, St Cheryl of Shirlington, gave me a recipe for a Shortbread tart crust that I thought was pretty much perfect.  It had 3 ingredients - flour, confectioners sugar and butter, was quickly assembled in a food processor, patted into a tart shell and baked.  I have been using it ever since.  Over Christmas this year, I found a recipe on the Martha Stewart site for a Press-In Shortbread Tart Crust .  It's brilliant, and the perfect amount for a 9-inch tart pan. It similar to St. Cheryl's, but a bit richer.  It has a single egg yolk, regular sugar, butter and salt.  Martha assembled it by hand, which I file under "Life Is Too Short", so I used the food processor - if you don't have one, I highly recommend one, I have had this Cuisinart for over 20 years.  I also reduced by half the amount of salt, because I thought it was too salty. So here goes. PRE-HEAT YOUR OVEN TO 375*F In your food-processor bowl, with the blade attachme...
Read more