Welcome to #FriendFriday where each week I’ll be sharing a delicious recipe from one of my Instagram friends! I find so much inspiration and friendship in the Instagram community so I’m looking forward to sharing some of that here with you. I’m excited for you to get to know some of my friends, I know you will find them as motivational as I do! Be sure to find them on Instagram so you can follow their journey and find more of their delicious meal ideas!
Today you are meeting Julie from @cookingwjulie who is a fabulous recipe developer for WW and several other companies! Julie shares healthy meals and gives lots of entertaining tips! Be sure to follow her on Instagram and her website for a ton of yummy, WW-friendly ideas!
Hi, Julie, tell us about yourself!
Hi! I’m Julie Hartigan of Cooking w/ Julie’ a Professional Chef & WW Recipe Developer who loves helping people feel like rock stars in the kitchen (and have more fun hosting parties) with my easy recipes and cooking tips. My cooking style can pretty much be summed up as “Happy meets Healthy” lots of colorful, super flavorful, lightened-up twists on comfort food and party favs. I’ve been creating recipes for WW for about 9 years now and even helped them launch their WW Wellness Cruises… we just got back from our 4th one! We serve 100’s of my recipes at the buffet and in full dining room menus and I do healthy cooking demos for all the members on board. I consult with lots of other brands too like Bed Bath Beyond, Real Simple Magazine, and more creating recipes, filming videos, testing cooking gear, and writing about cooking. health, and entertaining. I even get to do live TV cooking segments (which is such a blast!) and have two YouTube cooking shows coming out next year that I’m very excited about! I live in Hoboken, NJ just outside NYC with my two teen daughters, my boyfriend, and our silly Bull Mastiff-Boxer puppy named Harvey. I’m also a total beach bum a nd spend a lot of time at my beach place in Asbury Park where I shoot my cooking hack videos and test out new recipes on friends! You can find my recipes and tips on CookingwJulie.com, on FB/Instagram @cookingwjulie and check out my cooking and recipe videos on my YouTube Channel Julie Hartigan, Cooking w/ Julie.
What motivated you to change your lifestyle?
For over a decade I was a road-warrior engineer/tech consultant who secretly dreamed of a career that felt more like “me” involving food and fun! (Cooking was always my passion, as a little girl I wanted to try new things and even wrote my 1st recipe when I was 8 years old! (For my grandma’s Rhubarb Crunch.) When my 1st daughter was born I decided it was time for me to pursue a career I loved vs one my diploma said I should do! I worked at a culinary school in NYC to earn free tuition there to do their professional program, was a personal chef, taught cooking classes, and worked at Food Network and in a magazine test kitchen to learn the ropes. I’m so glad I took the leap, it makes me so happy to get to do work I love that helps others lead a happier healthier lifestyle.
What are your favorite foods to cook?
Roasted veggies are a big fav of mine- I use them in soups, salads, frittatas, and on their own. It’s such an easy, healthy, hands-off way to prepare them! I’m also a big fan of using ethnic spices and flavorful herbs to make even the simplest dish jump with flavor. I’m known as the 0 SP expert at WW and make lots of my own 0 sp soups and dips for m own family! Shakshoukas are another staple for me- you can pretty much saute any veggies you have on hand, add some salsa or tomato sauce, crack an egg on top to cook, and you have the easiest ever 0 sp meal for anytime of day!
What is one piece of advice you’d give someone just starting out on a health journey?
Prep healthy delicious dishes in batches at the beginning of the week to set yourself up for success. And use lots of flavors, spices, and herbs in your cooking to keep things fun!
Tell us about the recipe you are sharing today!
My Turkey Tortilla Soup is a fun, flavorful, and unexpected way to use up allll that leftover turkey from Thanksgiving! It’s a great dish to make for a crowd too – just put out a mix of toppings like salsa, crushed tortilla chips, non-fat Greek yogurt, lime wedges, shredded cheese, and hot sauce so everyone can customize their own bowl. It freezes really well and you can also use rotisserie or leftover chicken to make this when you don’t have turkey hanging around!!!
Julies Chicken Tortilla Soup is 0 Blue WW SmartPoints when divided into 3+ servings. It’s 3 Green WW SmartPoints for 1/10 of the recipe, approximately 1 cup. Enjoy! Be sure to continue following Julie for lots of delicious recipes!
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 ½ cups chopped onion
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 4 tsp minced garlic
- 1 jalapeno seeded and minced
- 1 tsp ancho chili powder
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 15 oz can fire roasted tomatoes drained
- 2 15 oz cans black beans rinsed, drained
- 4 cups shredded cooked turkey
- ⅓ cup fresh lime juice
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
- Optional Toppings: Shredded Cheddar or Mexican 4-Cheese, Sour Cream, Tortilla Chips, Lime Wedges
- Heat olive oil in a large soup pot set over medium heat. Add onion and salt and cook for 5-10 minutes or until onion is softened. Add garlic, jalapeno, and ancho chili powder and cook for 1 minute. Add broth, tomatoes, black beans, turkey and lime juice. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes for flavors to meld. Stir in cilantro and serve topped with optional garnishes.
Nutritional info provided is for 1/10th of the recipe (1 cup of soup) and assuming the use of 14 oz turkey breast.
Nutritional information is calculated with MyFitnessPal and may vary based on brands used. Smart Points information is calculated with the Weight Watchers app and may also vary based on brands used.
