My Favorite Weight Watchers Recipes- Healthy Lunch Meals

This is my fourth recipe hub in my series on my favorite Weight Watchers recipes, and I will share some of my favorite healthy lunch meals.  I shared my favorite “big portion” Weight Watchers recipes in my first hub, my favorite Weight Watchers pasta in my second, and my favorite Weight Watchers cold lunch ideas in my third. 

I use the old Weight Watchers exchange system, before points, which I learned from the Weight Watchers Quick Start Program cookbook years ago.  For more information on this, please refer to My Experience with Weight Watchers as my “old faithful” diet plan during my Air Force years. 

As always, these recipes are my modifications to get the biggest bang, in this case most food, for the least “cost” or number of exchanges.  Hopefully you will find my healthy lunch meals tasty and filling. 

For lunches, I aim for 1 bread and 2 protein exchanges, but no more than 2 bread and 3 protein.  I am a night owl, so I try to reserve 2 bread and 3 protein servings for my evening meal.  

Recipes for healthy lunch meals in this hub: 

Chicken and Dumplings

Rice Crust Quiche

Mini Pizza

I recall eating this soup many times at lunch in my clinic at Scott Air Force Base, my first duty assignment. 

Ingredients

1 c cooked green beans

1 c thin sliced mushrooms

½ thin sliced carrots

½ c diced onions

1 tsp butter or olive oil

1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp all purpose flour

½ Tbsp chicken or vegetable powder, such as Knorr

2 c water

4 oz cooked boneless, skinless chicken, chopped or shredded

1/8 tsp cardamom

1/8 tsp coriander

2 ready-to-bake flaky biscuits, 1 oz each, cut into 6 wedges

Instructions

1- Preheat oven to 375º.  Spray two 2-cup casserole dishes with cooking spray.

2- Prepare broth with water and chicken or vegetable powder. 

3- In a saucepan or skillet, heat oil or butter on medium.  Add onion and sauté.  Add broth if needed.  Add mushrooms next, which will provide moisture keep vegetables from drying out. 

4- Add flour, and ½ c of the broth.  Stir to incorporate flour.  Gradually add remaining broth, stirring.  Broth should thicken. 

5- Add carrots, green beans, and seasonings.  Cover and simmer until vegetables are desired tenderness. 

6- Add chicken and stir to combine. 

7- Divide mixture between your 2 casserole dishes. 

8- Add one biscuit cut into 6 wedges to each dish. 

9- Bake 10 to 15 minutes until “dumplings” are browned. 

Yield:  2 servings, each with 2 protein exchanges, 1 bread, 3 vegetable, and 1 fat. 

I can’t tell you how many rice crust quiches I have made over the years.  I made a lot of this quiche for lunch too.  I have included a few variations.  This is one of those things that you can come up with many variations. 

Ingredients

Crust

2 c rice

1 egg, beaten

1 oz shredded cheese

Salt, pepper

Filling

Chicken or vegetable broth

1 c diced red bell peppers

1 c diced onion

1 clove garlic, minced

½ to 1 c diced tomatoes, well drained, or 8-12 sun dried tomatoes, chopped

4 eggs, beaten

4 oz diced ham

2 oz shredded cheese

Instructions

1- Preheat oven to 425º.  Spray 9” deep dish pie plate with cooking spray.

2- In a bowl, combine rice, egg, and cheese for crust.  Stir to combine. 

3- Press rice mixture evenly on bottom and up sides of your deep dish pie dish. 

4- Bake until firm and lightly browned, about 25 minutes. 

5- Remove from oven and set aside.  Reduce oven temperature to 375º. 

6- In a skillet, heat a few tablespoons of broth.  Add vegetables and garlic and sauté. 

7- Transfer vegetables to a bowl.  Add eggs, meat, and cheese. 

8- Pour into pie crust. 

9- Bake until set, 30 to 40 minutes.  Cool 10 minutes before cutting. 

Yield:  4 servings, each with 3 protein, 1 bread, 1 fat, 1 vegetable. 

Eliminate meat for servings of 2 protein each. 

About eggs, egg whites, and egg substitutes:  One large egg is about 80 calories.  Egg whites are about 20 calories.  Egg substitutes like egg beaters are 30 calories per ¼ cup.  Consider ¼ c, of egg substitute or do-it-yourself egg whites, to be 1 egg equivalent in recipes. 

Although eggs are 80 calories, aim for about 60-70 calories per ounce (also per exchange) for most meats.  For example, use egg substitute or egg whites, reduce meat to 3 oz, and again you have 2 protein exchanges each serving. 

Cheese:  If you notice, I said aim for 60-70 calories per ounce for meat protein.  Obviously cheese has more calories than this.  Cheese in general should be used sparingly.  I sometimes count 1 protein and 1 fat per ounce of cheese, which often still does not account for the calories per ounce of cheese.  I used my daily “optional exchange” of about 200 calories per day to account for miscellaneous calories such as these.  

Spinach Quiche:  Use mushrooms, onions, and 1 10-oz box of frozen chopped spinach, well drained (or one half bag of baby spinach, wilted in skillet).  Try with Swiss cheese.  You can make it with “sausage” by adding sausage seasoning to lean ground beef.  Brown meat, drain, and measure out 4 oz meat for 1 protein exchange per serving.  Don’t forget to count your egg and cheese exchanges. 

Broccoli Quiche:  Use broccoli.  Add onions and mushrooms if you like.  Try skipping the meat and increasing the cheese for gooey goodness. 

This treat was for Saturday mornings at home.  It didn’t really work well for me to take as a work lunch.  The textures get lost for me if not fresh out of the oven.  This is another healthy lunch meal where you can use your imagination for lots of variety. 

Try this with a big salad, or raw vegetables such as carrot sticks.  Make some ranch dressing with yogurt (count 80 calories of yogurt as 1 milk exchange). 

Ingredients and instructions are per single serving. 

Ingredients

1 mini pita pocket, 1 oz, separated into halves

3 Tbsp tomato sauce

2 medium mushrooms, sliced thin

1 ½ Tbsp diced onion

2 oz shredded mozzarella

¼ tsp oregano

¼ tsp Lawry’s garlic powder with parsley

Instructions

1- Preheat broiler. 

2- Toast pita halves. 

3- Mix oregano and garlic powder in tomato sauce. 

4- Divide tomato sauce between pita halves.  Spread. 

5- Spread onions and mushrooms over pizzas. 

6- Distribute 1 oz cheese over each pizza. 

7- Broil to melt cheese, about 1 to 2 minutes. 

Yield:  1 serving, each with 2 protein exchanges, 1 bread, 2 fat, and 1 vegetable. 

I have a hearty appetite, and must admit 2 small pita pizzas didn’t fill me up.  For some reason, I don’t think it occurred to me years ago to have this pizza with a large salad.  Salad was not part of our meal routine when I was growing up. 

Bread:  Use sandwich sized English muffins for 2 bread exchanges.  Use two 1 oz pitas, for 4 mini pizzas, for 2 bread exchanges. 

Meat:  Add 1 oz ground beef for 2 protein exchanges.  Sausage and pepperoni are not encouraged, but as a special treat, calculate how much you can have for 60 to 80 calories, for 1 protein exchange.  You could figure 100 to 120 calories of meat, and count 1 protein and 1 fat exchange. 

Cheese:  See above under Quiche for my additional comments on cheese.  In general, count 1 protein and 1 fat per ounce of cheese.  If I were having 4 pita halves, I would probably still just use 1 ounce of cheese for the four pizzas.  Likewise, you could decrease the cheese to 1 ounce for two pita pizzas, and your pizzas would only be 1 protein and 1 bread exchange.  Or skimp on the cheese and have your meat for 2 proteins. 

Thanks for your support!

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