Mmmmm… Italian… in a slow cooker… for just 4 Weight Watcher smart points per serving!! (This recipe hasn’t changed with the new FreeStyle program) Now you are talking! Lasagna tastes delicious, but is not usually Weight Watcher friendly. This week we are sharing slow cooker dinner ideas that are low in Weight Watcher smart points. This soup only uses 4 lasagna noodles (broken into small pieces) and isn’t loaded with a ton of cheese, so it is quite healthy and very low in smart points! If you are craving Italian food, but you don’t want to eat your whole day’s smart points in one meal this lasagna soup might be the answer you are looking for.
TURKEY OR CHICKEN ITALIAN SAUSAGE
This recipe calls for Italian turkey or chicken sausage. I was not familiar with either of them and I wasn’t sure where to get them, so I just got the closest thing I could find in the store. I used Johnsonville Three Cheese Italian Style Chicken Sausage. This sausage has a spicy kick to it that I wasn’t expecting, but it still tasted good.
When I got home I did a google search and found that Jennie-O has a Sweet Italian Turkey Sausage and a Hot Italian Turkey Sausage. I think if I make this again I might use the Jennie-O sweet Italian turkey sausage. Here is a picture of what the Jennie-O turkey sausages look like so you will know what to look for when you get to the store….
Sweet or hot, it’s your call.
For this recipe you would want to use 4 links (or one pound). All of the sausages pictured above are 4 Weight Watcher smart points per link so if you are counting points you could use any of the sausages pictured.
SLOW COOKER LINERS
I thought I would use slow cooker liners this whole week. I figured since I was making a new slow cooker recipe each night for a whole week it would be nice not to have to clean the slow cooker each night. I bought the slow cooker liners and then I forgot to use them… every single day! As Pooh would say, “OH BOTHER!”. I was pleasantly surprised at how easily all of these recipes cleaned out of the slow cooker though and it really wasn’t that big of a deal. In fact, I think I used a lot less dishes this week than a normal week because most of the ingredients just get tossed into the slow cooker so that was nice. If you want to use the slow cooker liners you can get them here or at your grocery store near the Ziploc bags, saran wrap, and aluminum foil.
OUR GIVEAWAY THIS WEEK
Martha McKinnon from Simple Nourished Living is offering one of our readers a FREE ecookbook that includes 50 of her favorite slow cooker recipes. Each recipe includes Weight Watcher smart points and nutritional information. This lasagna soup recipe is one of the 50 recipes in the “50 Favorite Slow Cooker Recipes eCookbook for Weight Watchers: SmartPoints Edition”. Go here to enter into the giveaway for a free copy of Martha’s ecookbook.
Okay, so how about some lasagna soup!?
Here is what you need:
1 lb. Italian turkey or chicken sausage, casings removed
1 c. chopped onion
1 green or red bell pepper, chopped
1 c. chopped fresh mushrooms
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 c. chicken broth
1 can (14-15 oz.) tomato sauce
1 can (14-15 oz.) petite diced tomatoes
½ t. salt
¼ t. crushed red pepper
3 oz. broken whole-wheat lasagna noodles (about 3 to 4 noodles)
½ c. chopped fresh basil
½ c, reduced-fat shredded mozzarella cheese
3 T. grated Parmesan cheese
Here is what you do:
- Put the sausage and chopped onion in a microwave safe bowl and microwave, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is no longer pink, 5 to 8 minutes.
- Transfer the mixture to the slow cooker, breaking up any large pieces of sausage. (I used my salad chopper to chop up the sausage)
- Stir in bell pepper, mushrooms, garlic, broth, tomato sauce, tomatoes, salt and crushed red pepper.
Cover and cook on LOW until the sausage and vegetables are tender, 6 to 8 hours.
- Add the broken lasagna noodles, cover and cook on HIGH, until tender, about 30 minutes.
Turn off the slow cooker and stir in the basil, mozzarella and Parmesan. (my basil got yucky before I got to it so I ended up leaving it out and it still tasted good.)
Lasagna Soup
Ingredients
- 1 pound Italian turkey or chicken sausage, casings removed
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 green or red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 (14-15 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 (14-15 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 3 ounces broken whole-wheat lasagna noodles (about 3 to 4 noodles)
- ½ cup chopped fresh basil
- ½ cup reduced-fat shredded mozzarella cheese
- 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Put the sausage and chopped onion in a microwave safe bowl and microwave, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is no longer pink, 5 to 8 minutes.
- Transfer the mixture to the slow cooker, breaking up any large pieces of sausage.
- Stir in bell pepper, mushrooms, garlic, broth, tomato sauce, tomatoes, salt and crushed red pepper. Cover and cook on LOW until the sausage and vegetables are tender, 6 to 8 hours.
- Add the broken lasagna noodles, cover and cook on HIGH, until tender, about 30 minutes. Turn off the slow cooker and stir in the basil, mozzarella and Parmesan.
This recipe makes 8 (1 cup) servings.
One serving is 4 WW Smart Points or 4 WW FreeStyle SP.
***Disclaimer: There are affiliate links in this post. ***
June Froberg says
Is the ingredient list correct? It appears to begin repeating about the middle of the list.
Alisha Hughes says
Thanks for catching that! I will fix it.
Brandi says
What is the serving size?
Alisha Hughes says
Hi Brandi, This lasagna soup makes 8 (1 cup) servings.
Shelbie says
This looks amazing, but I don’t; have ingredients this morning to put in crockpot for the day. Do you know how to convert this to an instant pot recipe??
Alisha Hughes says
I’m sorry but I haven’t tried it in the Instant Pot to know for sure.