Eating Black-eyed peas on New Years is an old Southern tradition believed to bring good luck in the new year. Black-eyed peas symbolize coins or pennies and are said to guarantee financial prosperity. This recipe comes from MediterraneanDish.com and is seasoned with Greek spices such as cumin, oregano and paprika. Canned black-eyed peas are used for convenience, but you can use dry beans and cook them in a slow cooker (click on the link above for instructions). Black-eyed p

Pasta Fagioli is a hearty Italian soup made with pasta and beans. It was once eaten only by the poor, but it was also Dean Martin's favorite Italian dish. He even sang about it in his hit song, "That's Amore." He called it Pasta Fazool. On a recent snowy day, I made a big pot of Pasta Fazool. Due in part to the frigid weather, I would describe it simply as a "bowl of comfort." Actually, the warm temperature of soup sends signals to our brains that trigger a calming response.

Smitten Kitchen's Deb Perelman adds the works to her tortilla soup. Make this your own with your favorites! I am a big fan of the Smitten Kitchen website, created by a young New York City woman who is married with two kids and has no professional culinary training. She is simply a brilliant cook with three best-selling cookbooks under her belt. I have to cherry-pick Deb's recipes because many of them are calorific. (Yes, it's a word.) In other words, Deb has way more fun cook

Turkey is on everyone’s mind these days as Americans prepare for Thanksgiving. Turkey and lots of high-fat, must-make family sides like Grandma’s stuffing, Aunt Harriet’s green bean casserole and — read it and weep— 23 WW Points-per-serving pecan pie. I suggest that we try something different before the big day (from Weight Watchers, no less) that will knock your socks off without adding to your sense of holiday indulgence. It’s completely different from the usual holiday far

This year we’re hosting an afternoon Easter lunch that includes a Salmon Niçoise salad with lots of extras, including these amazing roast baby potatoes. Potatoes almost always appear in some form on holiday tables. Usually they’re steeped in cream and cheese. Here’s a recipe for potatoes that won't break the calorie bank: baby potatoes well seasoned and roasted until browned and crisp. They're utterly delicious, and what's more, you’ll have room for a bite of a chocolate Eas

From November 16, 2009: One of our family’s favorite Thanksgiving traditions is this sweet potato casserole. My daughter Elizabeth, who has been known to cast a suspicious eye on my attempts to make recipes more Weight Watcher-friendly, once said to me, “Don’t go messing with this recipe. It’s perfect just the way it is.” It took me years to admit to her that it came from an old Cooking Light cookbook. It’s not exactly “diet” friendly, but it’s a good example of how you can

Ina Garten is famous for her delicious recipes from more than a dozen cookbooks, as well as her TV show, the Barefoot Contessa. Her recipes are highly acclaimed for good reason: Ina loves butter and lots of it. Thankfully, not all of Ina's recipes are steeped in butter fat. Whenever she publishes a recipe that's healthy, you can rest assured that it's the best of its kind, as with this fabulous Winter Minestrone. She adds cubed butternut squash along with the usual vegetable

Recently I invited a friend for dinner and told him that it wasn't going to be a gourmet dinner but more like what Grandma used to serve. He quickly replied, "Great! I love Grandma food!" Actually, I didn't get this recipe from my Grandma, who was an immigrant from Switzerland. A good friend gave it to me years ago, and I make it whenever I need something warm and comforting for dinner. If you're a Weight Watchers member, you know that WW has enhanced its Zero-Point food list

Chicken, pineapple and colorful bell peppers combine for a rock-star main dish in this healthy stir fry I adapted from skinnytaste.com ....

For Weight Watchers and those of us wanting to eat more healthfully, dining at Chinese restaurants can be challenging. There are always...

In 2022 I posted a recipe from Weight Watchers for White Chicken Chili with Salsa Verde. It was very popular among WW members despite the...

I post a lot of recipes for chicken because it's an economical source of protein that can be served in many ways. In this simple recipe...