Get yourself a 3-4 pound whole cleaned chicken and dressing it up with some fresh cut lemons , whole garlic cloves, and fresh herbs like thyme, sage, rosemary, oregano, and basil. Coat the inside and outside of the whole chicken with fresh squeezed lemon juice then stuff the cavity with the cut lemons fresh herbs on the stem and the garlic cloves.

We found this WW recipe on page 128 in the Weight Watchers 50th Anniversary Cookbook and it clocks in at 4 points for those counting their daily WW points intake, 161 calories, and 0g total carbs.

I could not find this recipe online, so I’ve created my version for your culinary education!

Ingredients

• 1 large sweet onion, peeled and sliced
• 1 (3-4 pound) roasting whole chicken
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
• 1 lemon, halved
• 3 thyme sprigs
• 3 sage sprigs
• 3 rosemary sprigs
• 3 oregano sprigs
• 3 basil sprigs
• 10 cloves garlic, peeled

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 350-degrees F. Squeeze fresh lemon juice on the inside and outside of the chicken, then rub the inside and outside with the salt and pepper. Place the squeezed lemon halves along with the fresh herb sprigs and peeled garlic cloves into the cavity of the bird. Using kitchen string, truss the legs together at the ends to help keep the herbs, lemon, and garlic inside the cavity.
2. Place the sliced onion on the bottom of a roasting pan, then place the stuffed chicken breast side up over the onions. Roast in the preheated oven for about 1 3/4 hours, or until juices run clear from the thigh or the internal temperatures reaches 165-degrees F. Remove from the oven and allow the chicken to rest for 10-minutes before slicing into 8 portions. WW suggests you remove the skin before eating, but for me that’s the icing on the cake. If you are a purist and want to cut some fat and calories, then discard the skin.

This WW recipe is found on page 98 in the Best of WW Recipes Cookbook, which is where we got the recipe, but you an also find it online at the WW website for Perfectly Barbecued Chicken Breasts.

The recipe calls for bone-in chicken breast, but I used boneless, they cook faster and it’s what we had on hand already. Though bone-in chicken always tastes better because the bones release more juices that get absorbed and cooked into the meat, they do take longer to cook.

What makes these chicken breasts so plump and juicy is the salt-brine solution they are allowed to set in for at least 30-minutes. I find you can let the boneless chicken set in the brine for several hours, or even overnight for bone-in or whole chicken. Just be sure to rinse off the brine before cooking.

I cooked the brined chicken breast on the griddle on the stove-top. The presentation side with the perfect grill marks is accomplished with grilling the breast for about 2-3 minutes, then flipping each breast 45-degrees and grilling for another 2-3 minutes. Once the grill marks are accomplished, the breasts are flipped on the back side and grilled for another 5-6 minutes. Once grilled, the chicken is transferred to a sheet pan and put into the 350-degree oven until they are cooked, or an internal temperature of 165-degrees.

This recipe is a modification of the WW Mahi Mahi soft tacos recipe we found on page 82 in the Best of WW Recipes cookbook. Or, you can find the recipe on the WW website at Mahi mahi soft tacos.

What do I change in the recipe?

Our main modification utilized catfish filets in place of the mahi mahi called for in the original recipe. I also modified the way the corn tortillas were warmed up, the recipe calls for lightly toasting them, but I find many corn tortillas become brittle and fall apart easily, so I put them on a small sheet pan and covered them with foil and into a 170-degree oven for about 10-minutes to warm them up a bit. The recipe calls for grilling the fish, but I seared it in a cast iron skillet until cooked on each side, about 4-minutes per side.

I also made a small batch of Mexican Rice as a side for the tacos, it was quite easy, and I’ll share the recipe for it below.

Here are some photos of our rendition of the soft taco recipe:

This is another WW excellent recipe utilizing bananas in a non-dairy and flourless batter recipe. The banana pancakes cook up a bit puffy and then shrink down to almost crepe-like thickness, and when topped with fresh banana slices and berries along with a dusting of powdered sugar becomes a delightful breakfast and brunch meal for anyone on a diet or not. Coming in a only 1 point per serving for those counting daily meals, and with just 253 calories and 36g total carbs, its a healthy meal too.

We used the recipe found on page 226 of the Best of WW Recipes Cookbook, but it can also be found online at the WW website on Banana Lover’s Flourless Pancakes.

Total Time: 20 min Prep: 15 min Cook: 5 min Serves: 2

The batter is delicate and requires patience with flipping them over, I find it takes a bit longer than the 1-minute recommended by the recipe for each side, it’s more like 2-3 minutes per side to get them to set up enough to flip over.

The recipe also calls for 1/2 cup blueberries, but we’ve added raspberries along with the blueberries for a variation of flavor and texture.

The recipe calls for putting 2-tablespoons full of the batter in the pan for each pancake. 2-tablespoons is the same as 1 fluid ounce, as there are 16-tablespoons per fluid cup and a cup is 8-ounces. Simple kitchen math lesson here.

The recipe states that each serving is 8 pancakes, I was only able to get 6 pancakes per serving out the batch of better I made.