Recipe Review: Spanish Chickpea, Tomato & Kale Stew

This recipe come from the new Weight Watchers Power Foods cookbook's vegetarian chapter. I thought it looked interesting, and I had some kale to use up. Since I had all of the ingredients on hand for the most part, I decided to give it a try. I did substitute 1 tsp of turmeric for the 1/4 tsp of saffron threads it called for, based on a recommendation I found online to use 4 times as much turmeric when substituting for saffron. I also used smoked paprika -- the recipe calls for either smoked or regular paprika. I feel like the smoked paprika added a little bit more complexity to the flavor of the stew, so I would recommend using it. It has a bit of a lengthy cooking time and took almost an hour from start to finish, including prep time, but it was very good! I also served it with brown rice to round it out and add some whole grains to the meal.

Here's what it looked like:

Recipe Review: Hearty Beef & Hominy Chili

This post is something new for this blog -- a recipe review without the recipe itself. I want to be able to share my opinions of the recipes in the currently available Weight Watchers cookbooks without reprinting them. So here is my first "recipe review." Hopefully you will find these helpful in deciding whether or not to purchase the books.

Tonight we tried the Beef & Hominy Chili from the new Power Foods Cookbook available in WW centers and at meetings. I made it vegetarian (and saved 2 PointsPlus per serving) by using Lightlife Smart Ground "beef" crumbles. I did have to add some water to make up for the lost moisture that the beef would have produced, but otherwise I followed the recipe as written. I chose Fire Roasted diced tomatoes to add a smoky flavor. (And I forgot the salt, but it was fine without it.) It had a nice flavor, not too spicy, and was very filling for the 1 1/2 cup serving. I would definitely recommend trying this one.

Here's a visual: