Leftover Smile Bake for Saturday

Saturday's lunch all set & ready to go!

I was having a heck of a time figuring out what I wanted to make for dinner tonight for me & John. I thought maybe Tater Tot Casserole but was lacking a lot of the stuff I normally put into it, so I came up with an alternative based on what I had on hand and The Smile Bake was born!

Ingredients
9 McCain Smiles
6oz lean ground turkey or beef
4 Tbsp Thousand Island dressing, divided
1 swiss cheese slice
1 small can mushroom pieces, drained

Directions
Brown meat in skillet. Add mushrooms. Place mixture in square cake pan (abt 8"). Squirt 2 tablespoons dressing over top. Top with Smiles and broken up swiss. Bake at 350 10-15 minutes. Top with addition dressing.

Easy. Yummy. And 1/3 of the pan is only 231 calories!

Cheesy Veggie Biscuit Cups

I was pretty stumped as to what I might want to take to work tonight. I knew I didn't want soup again even though it's wonderful and I have a ton of it. I also knew that oatmeal (again) would probably bore me and my dear readers.
A few days ago I took a trip out to my beloved Aldi's and one of the things I got on a whim was a 4-pack of buttermilk biscuit tubes. Biscuits are yum. Biscuits, on their own, do not a lunch make.

Hmmmm....

Tomorrow's my weigh-in and I've already probably royally messed it up from my munchie-fest from the other day and the order of wings I had just a little bit ago so something on the light side sounded best.

Veggies! (And because almost everything is better with cheese, we'll add some of that, too!)

So I present to you: Cheesy Veggie Biscuit Cups!

Ingredients:

1 bag Three Cheese California Blend Vegetables (only 1 serving gets used, though)

1 tube Buttermilk Biscuits

1 slice Swiss cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400.

Cook vegetables according to package directions (in this case, microwave on high 5 minutes).

Pop open biscuit tube. Flatten each one in the palm of your hand and place one in each muffin cup.



Spoon veggies into each cup (1 cup of veggies evenly divided worked GREAT).

Top each with a smidge of swiss cheese (I used 1 slice for all 10 cups).

Place muffin cups in oven for 10-13 minutes.

See how pretty?

Even prettier out of the muffin cup!

And pretty dang tastey, too!!!

According to SparkRecipes, each biscuit cup is a mere 61 calories.

I could probably eat half most all of them in one sitting but then there's that whole weigh-in thing tomorrow and the fact that if I eat them all I won't have any more (until the next time I make them, of course).  So, for lunch, instead of all 10 Cheesy Veggie Biscuit Cups I'll take 2 along with a half cup of grapes and a couple of hard-cooked eggs. 310 calories all together!

Muffin Cup Omelets

I've been making these ever since I first discovered the wonderful world of silicone muffin cups years ago. They're so easy and fun!

Tonight for my lunch for work I made three tomato, ham & cheese "omelets".

Equipment Needed:
Silicone muffin cups, fork, microwave

Ingredients:
3 eggs (not pictured), 1/2 ounce diced ham, 1/2 ounce diced tomato, 1/2 ounce shredded cheddar
(you can use whatever fillings you want, of course, but you don't want to use too much!)

How To:

1. Crack an egg into a muffin cup & stir with a fork.

2. Add fillings & stir.

3. Repeat with other cups.

4. Pop in microwave for 2 minutes.

5. Admire how pretty ;)

6. Be amazed at the awesome meal you can make for 319 calories -- grapes included!

(The bottom right cup is what happens when you don't stir enough after filling!)

When it comes time to eat these can be reheated by popping them back into the microwave for a handful of seconds but a lot of the time I like them just as much cold!



BONUS: Gingerbread Fun!

One of my favorite purchases for baking has been the square muffin pans I found on eBay years ago. They were originally rather large and held 12 per pan, but I've had to cut them in half so they would fit my Easy Bake Oven On Crack. After Tom went to work & before John got home from school I decided to bake some goodies. Cracked open the box of Betty Crocker Gingerbread mix, got it mixed up & then realized that there was room in the gizmo for 6 muffins and one of the small toaster-oven pans I just got!

The small sheet cake just got frosted with cream cheese frosting and sprinkles ... but the muffins?

First I cut two of them in half on the diagonal ... then I placed one triangle on top each of the remaining squares:

I bet you can guess where we're going now, huh?

I gathered together some candy bits, sprinkles, frosting, and John.

It's a Gingerbread Muffin House!

And, yes. I let him eat it as part of his dinner. 

Sometimes you just need cake for dinner.