The Messy Cook: Low Calorie Roasted Tomato Dill Bisque

Sophomore year of college, I started working at a bar that specialized in making the servers fat. The healthiest thing on the menu was a salad that consisted of iceberg lettuce, bacon, and cheese. 

Night after night, all I ate was fried cheese sticks, tater tots with cheese, and baked strizzata (umm, heaven on a plate). That, and my new acquired taste for alcohol, led to a just as newly acquired 30lbs. 

Over the past year, I've dieted off and on, and worked out regularly. I dropped 10lbs and then gained it all back once things got stressful and busy.

I can work out all I want, but sadly I've learned that all of the inspirational posts on Pinterest are right: weight loss is mainly done in the kitchen. 

And that is why I joined Weight Watchers. 

I've tried counting macros in the past, but I just don't have the discipline to do it myself right now. And IIFYM has too many variables for me right now and it becomes a pain to track. 

Long story slightly less long, I'm trying out new Weight Watchers friendly recipes. First one on the list? Tomato Dill Bisque!

If there is anything that feels like comfort food to me, it's tomato soup and grilled cheese. This soup felt like home to me.

Being the terrible blogger that I am, I got caught up in cooking (and cleaning my kitchen and watching Psych and messaging people) to take pictures of the process. I even had my camera sitting in front of me the whole time. 

This soup is yummy, and it wasn't that hard to make. It took about an hour for me to cook (including prep time), and it makes about 6 (1 1/2 cup) servings. Each serving is worth 4 WW points.

You'll need a baking sheet, aluminum foil, soup pot, and a blender.

Ingredients

• 4 sprays cooking spray (I used olive oil)
• 56 oz canned diced tomatoes, drained
• 4 medium uncooked carrots, thinly sliced (I sliced up a handful of baby carrots.)
• 1 large uncooked onion, diced
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper (I didn't have any, so I just put a dash of cayenne.)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 tbsp fino sherry (I didn't have, so I skipped this.)
• 28 oz canned crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 cup plain low far Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup dill, fresh (I used Dill paste as a substitute because the WallMart didn't have fresh dill.)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degree F, Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, toss together diced tomatoes, carrots, onion, salt, pepper, and sugar; spread on prepared baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes.
3. In a large nonstick soup pot, heat butter over medium heat.
4. Add garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook and stir.
5. Add cooking sherry. (Or add a little water like I did.) Cook and stir.
6. Add roasted vegetables, crushed tomatoes, and broth. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and let simmer (uncovered) for 10 minutes, so that the flavors can blend.
7. Stir in the yogurt.
8. Remove from heat and puree soup in a blender. Stir in dill, and served garnished with chives.

I suggest halfing it if you are solo like I am. Six servings is a LOT of soup. But it's the perfect size for a family. The whole time I ate this soup, I was wanting a grilled cheese.

Today, I was in a very rare mood. Yes, I was in a cleaning mood. While the soup was simmering, I did a couple loads of dishes, so I don't have the full mess. But I do have a picture of the last load. This was for sure a messy one.

Because I forgot the mess pictures, here's a picture of my Baby Boy. Also, I got a new purple knife from WalMart. Oooh, fancy!

Enjoy!

The Messy Cook: World's Easiest (and Maybe Cheesiest) Shepherd's Pie

So that's a lie. It's probably not the cheesiest, but it's for sure the easiest.

Also, I've been informed that it's only shepherd's pie if it's made from lamb, and what I made was "cottage pie". But fuck the police. I do what I want. And I want to call it Shepherd's pie. So there.

I classify this recipe under the "from scratch" category with an emphasis on the quotation marks. This is the biggest cheater meal I have ever created. And to every non-cook out there, you're welcome.

Sorry for the poor quality Instagram picture. I was not prepared to blog about this.

This recipe takes 15 minutes to prep and 20 minutes to cook. Feeds 6 people (or you can eat 5 servings yourself like I did.)

All you will need for this delicacy is:

• 1 lb Ground Beef
• 2 cups INSTANT Garlic Mashed Potatoes (You can make them from scratch if you're dedicated)
• 60 gram brick of Cream Cheese (It pisses me off that this switches to metric too. Don't ask why)
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese
• 4 cups Mixed Vegetables (canned or frozen. I used canned.)
• 1 cup Beef Gravy (I got this out of a jar. You can also buy the packets and make it that way.)

Directions:

1. Pre-make instant potatoes (and the gravy if you bought the packet).
2. Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
3. Brown meat in large skillet and drain
4. Mix potatoes, cream cheese, and 1/2 cup shredded cheese until well blended.
5. Combine meat, vegetables, and gravy. 
6. Spoon into 9-inch square baking dish.
7. Cover with potato mixture and the remaining 1/2 cup of shredded cheese.
8. Bake for 20 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

That's all it takes. 

Boyfriend wants me to include a segment in which I show how messy I leave his kitchen after I make things (hey, there's no room for cleanliness AND creativity.), but due to lack of photos of this adventure, I'll have to refer you to the one above where you can only see a smidgen of my mess.

Enjoy.