"People become successful the minute they decide to." -Harvey Mackay

Feeling successful after the weekend. I forgot how hard it is to balance alcohol and food and points. Mostly it just becomes difficult to remember to keep track of the points. I decided that I needed to do it in the middle of the Pink Pony Party, after having approximately 67 drinks. Yikes. (Fortunately, I think I was pretty accurate.)

We had a pre-game crew meeting/party at my house before the party, which was a really great idea (mine). It was easy to control the point intake when I controlled the food options: fruit bowl, veggie tray, chips and guac. Bar: vodka, rum and every kind of diet mixer. And I bought a ton of beer, which nobody drank. We ordered pizza and my friend brought amazing brownies and because I had been so careful about the other stuff, I felt free to partake and it wasn't "cheating." I used up all of my free points, but that's what they're for, right?

Also, I made a giant pot of WW's famous zero-point "Garden Harvest Soup" yesterday. Filling and no points. Love that. Need more of those.

Here's the recipe (I added broccoli and celery left over from the veg tray. I don't eat those veggies raw, so why not throw them in?):


Weight Watchers Zero Points Garden Vegetable Soup ♥

Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Time to table: 1 1/4 hour
Makes 9 cups

6 cups broth
Cooking spray
1 cup carrots, diced
1 large onion, diced
4 teaspoons garlic
1/2 cabbage, chopped (or use a bag of slaw, the biggest chunks you can find vs the fine, don't skip the cabbage for it somehow makes the soup)
1/2 cup green beans
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large zucchini, diced

Cook carrots, onion and garlic in soup pot with fat free cooking spray until the onions are soft. Add all the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the zucchini and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to MEDIUM and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the beans are tender. Add the zucchini and cook until the zucchini are tender. Serve and enjoy!

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Cup: 61 Cal (3% from Fat, 24% from Protein, 73% from Carb); 4 g Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 13 g Carb; 3 g Fiber; NetCarb10; NetCarb10; 52 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 701 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers ... hmmm ... 1 point

NUTRITION NOTES This soup is low-cal, low-carb, high-fiber and no-fat. But hmmm. What about the claim that it has no points in the Weight Watchers world? I suppose so, since all the ingredients are "free". But honestly, a calorie's a calorie and so I count every one of them whether from chocolate cake or fresh vegetables. In my book, this Garden Vegetable Soup counts as 1 point but is a definite one-point winner.

KITCHEN NOTES
Zero point soups are easy to make without a recipe. Just cook a pile of non-starchy vegetables in 6 cups of a non-fat broth. It's even easy to convert one-point soups to zero-point soups.