Valentine's Day traditionally involves a gift from Mr. Russell Stover that comes in a red heart-shaped box and contains about a zillion calories. I love chocolate as much as the next gal but when it comes to that red box, which comes only once a year, I have trouble with moderation. So many chocolaty options! As Forrest Gump says, "You never know what you're going to get."
Weight Watchers has a remedy for all those tasty high-fat morsels: a creamy tomato-basil soup that WW brags has "restaurant-quality looks." (Nordstrom's legendary tomato-basil soup comes to mind.) It has all the flavor but none of the cream. Caveat: this isn’t a carbon copy of Nordstrom’s famous soup. It’s WW’s slimmed down version that is much healthier. It has way less sodium (Nordstrom’s soups require a tall glass of water to accompany them) and much less fat.
The secret to this soup's creaminess is pureed canned white beans. I think you'll be surprised at how rich it tastes. The puréed beans have lots of filling fiber to keep you satisfied for hours. When you serve it, be sure to add lots of fresh basil and sprinkle on coarsely cracked black pepper. While you eat, imagine that you’re sitting in the Nordstrom cafe sipping delicious tomato-basil soup and about to shop till you drop!
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 cup low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 (28-oz.) can diced tomatoes
1 (15-oz.) can white beans (cannellini or great northern), rinsed and drained
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
Heat olive oil in a saucepan and add onion. Saute until onion is tender, about 8 minutes. Add the broth, tomatoes with juice, beans, salt, and black pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in basil.
Transfer soup to a blender and puree until smooth (or puree with an immersion blender in the pot).
Divide soup into 4 bowls and top with more chopped basil and fresh cracked black pepper.
Serving: 1 1/3 cups