I LOVE this healthy recipe from Hungry Girl. It is worth the 10 minutes event the night before to get everything ready in the crock pot BEFORE you leave for a busy day. When you come home, you have dinner just add some rolls or garlic bread…I know that kills the “low cal” and “no points” but it is yummy!
Prep: 10 minutes Cook: 3 – 4 hours on high or 7 – 8 hours on low
Ingredients:
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
2 tsp. chopped garlic
2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. each salt and black pepper
2 bay leaves
6 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
14 oz. (about 2 medium) zucchini
4 cups roughly chopped spinach leaves
Optional seasonings: additional salt and black pepper
Directions:
Add all ingredients to a slow cooker except zucchini and spinach. Mix well.
Cover and cook on high for 3 – 4 hours or on low for 7 – 8 hours, until veggies have softened.
Once soup is almost done cooking, use a spiral vegetable slicer to cut zucchini into spaghetti-like noodles. If you don’t have a spiral veggie slicer, peel zucchini into super-thin strips, rotating the zucchini after each strip. (This can be done when you are prepping and placed in the refrigerator) Roughly chop for shorter noodles.
If cooking at high heat, decrease heat to low. Remove and discard bay leaves. Stir in zucchini noodles and spinach. Re-cover, and cook for 10 minutes, or until zucchini noodles have slightly softened and spinach has wilted. Just enough time to cook some of that garlic bread maybe even melt some cheese on it! 🙂
MAKES 6 SERVINGS: 1/6th of recipe (about 1 1/3 cups): 56 calories, 0.5g total fat (0g sat fat), 701mg sodium, 10g carbs, 2.5g fiber, 4.5g sugars, 3g protein — SmartPoints™ value 0*
Hope Wissel 