Tomato Technique for snacks and salads

I use these tomatoes for all sorts of things. You can use grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes or larger vine ripened tomatoes. The key is that you want to cut them in half so their juices drain down. Then I use the tomatoes and their liquid as a salad dressing. I either have a tomato basil salad by itself, or if I have extra points to spare I'll put in an ounce of fresh mozzarella. Otherwise I just mix the tomatoes their balsamic and salt with lettuce greens or Arugula or just keep the tomatoes in a bowl and snack on them throughout the day.

They key is to have them at room temperature for at least one hour and up to 24 hours. For catering events, we usually slice tomatoes an hour before service, sprinkle with kosher salt and a little olive oil.

Because I'm trying to lose weight I'm omitting the olive oil and just sprinkle the kosher salt and and then drizzle with reduced balsamic. (I reduce the balsamic vinegar myself by cooking a large bottle of balsamic vinegar from Coscto over low heat until it is reduced by half. Then I put it in a squeeze bottle. It lasts as long as vinegar lasts and I have some in my cupboard at all times.) If you don't have reduced balsamic, just drizzle the tomatoes with regular balsamic vinegar.

Fiddle Version of Tomato Salad

Zero Points*

1 cups tomatoes, sliced or if using small ones then cut in half

basil leaves, as many as you'd like

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Drizzle of reduced balsamic vinegar or 1 tablespoon regular balsamic vinegar

freshly ground pepper, optional

Add 1 ounce of fresh mozzarella for two points

1. Slice the tomatoes at least an hour before you want to eat them, but I recommend 2 hours. sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper if you wish and stir them so that salt is distributed over tomatoes. Drizzle with vinegar and put in basil leaves.

2. After the tomatoes have sat for an hour or more either eat as a snack or tomato salad. Or combine with arugula, green leaf or butter lettuce. The tomato water that drips from the tomato combined with the balsamic and salt will make its own oil-free natural dressing.

3. If you have extra points and want to add an ounce of fresh mozzarella to make a caprese salad then slice the fresh mozzarella into small pieces and weigh on a digital scale. (Try to find the best mozzarella you can find for this.)

4. You can leave this out throughout the day and snack on it as well. I will often nibble on the tomatoes while I'm making dinner because it keeps me satisfied while I'm cooking dinner and is a zero point, healthy snack. There are two grams of Fiber and 1.6 grams of protein in tomatoes so these a terrific low calorie choice.

*The Points® values for these products and/or recipes were calculated by Maili and are not an endorsement or approval of the product, recipe or its manufacturer or developer by Weight Watchers International, Inc., the owner of the Points® registered trademark.