Whooooopie...Under 200 Calorie Breakfast Sandwiches

What can I say, I'm a joiner - if there is a bandwagon to hop on - COUNT...ME...IN!  Riding the bandwagon recently has meant two things: I am the proud owner of whoopie pie pan AND its time for a January diet.  I will admit that I haven't made whoopie pies in it, but it was awfully handy to make uniform sized egg patties for breakfast sandwiches. 

If I don't plan ahead, my morning will end with a pastry or 4 in my mouth, so I make these sandwiches in bulk, wrap them in saran, put them in a freezer bag and then microwave them all week when I am ready for breakfast. 

If you're a fan of the Sausage McMuffin - this is for you!  I have made it over

to only be 187 calories! 

What you'll need for 6 Muffins:

• Light English Muffins
• Fat Free Sharp Cheddar Slices
• Turkey Sausage Patties
• 12 Tablespoons of Egg Beaters (2T per whoopie pie pan cavity)

Place 2T of Egg Beaters in each of 6 whoopie pie pan cavities.  If you don't have a whoopie pie pan, use a jumbo muffin tin or 6 ramekins and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. 

After your eggs are complete, its time to assemble the sandwiches.  Open each English Muffin and place a slice of cheese on the bottom half of the muffin, place the sausage patty on top of the cheese and then the egg on top of the sausage.  Put the top half of the muffin on top and wrap in saran and freeze. 

To reheat, remove saran and wrap in a paper towel.  Microwave for 45 seconds on 50%, then flip the sandwich over and microwave 45 more seconds on 50%. 

Hope you enjoy your easy breakfast!

-Meg

Red, White, and Green Lasagna

Sunday night is the night I go through the fridge making sure to throw away any expired salad dressings, make sure I'm not growing any science projects in the produce drawer, and check any meat that I hadn't had a chance to cook yet and see if I need to throw it in the freezer (I HATE wasting groceries when there are still hungry people - when they solve world hunger I will begin to waste with abandon...but until then) and as I was going through my weekly inventory, I had some marinara and pesto that I needed to use up, and some turkey sausage that was only a few days from expiring, so this multi-colored lasagna was born.

Red, White, and Green Lasagna

For the red layer:
1 - 15 oz Marinara (I used Buitoni - but any marinara would do)
8 - Oven Ready Lasagna Noodles

For the white layer:
2 - 15 oz Tubs of Fat Free Ricotta Cheese
1/2 C Egg Beaters (or you can use 2 large eggs)
2t Italian Seasoning
1/2 C Shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 3/4 C Shredded Italian 3 Cheese 2% Milk Blend (You could also use regular Italian Blend)

For the green layer:
1 - 7oz Reduced Fat Pesto (I used Buitoni - but any pesto would do)
1 - 10oz Pkg Archer Farms Spinach Garlic Turkey Sausage, Sliced
1 - 8oz Pkg Sliced Mushrooms
Dash of salt
non-stick cooking spray

Topping:
1/4 C Shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 C Shredded Italian 3 Cheese 2% Milk Blend

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

First assemble the green layer by spraying a skillet with non-stick spray and sprinkle with a dash of salt, putting the skillet on medium heat, add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes and then add the sliced sausage and cook until the mushrooms and sausage slices are browned.  Once browned, remove from heat and stir in the pesto, and set aside.

Next assemble the white layer by mixing together the cheeses, egg, and italian seasoning in a medium bowl and set aside.

Now you're ready to put the lasagna together, in a 9x13 baking dish put half of the marinara on the bottom of the pan, then place 4 of the lasagna noodles on top.  Then spread half of the white layer mixture on top of the noodles, followed by half of the green layer then 4 lasagna noodles.  Then to finish it off spread out the remaining half of the marinara on top of the noodles, then the remaining half of the white layer mixture and the last half of the green layer mixture layered on top. 

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 60 minutes, sprinkle the topping cheeses on top and put back into the oven for 10 minutes.

Reasons I like this lasagna:

• Its easy to use light ingredients and you can't taste the difference
• The only cooking involved was to brown the sausage and mushrooms
• This lasagna has 8-10 servings, which means that I will cook once and have multiple meals already made
• Lasagnas freeze beautifully - you can assemble it and freeze before or after baking
• It was easy enough that I was able to watch the Golden Globes pre-show red carpet while assembling it

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

-Meg

More than a couple of good eggs...

I thought it would be fitting if my first "official" post was egg related and by pure coincidence I just happened to make the world's easiest, pleaseyist (yes, I know its not a word, but I am a sucker for rhyming) mini egg casseroles.

Easy Peasy Egg Casseroles

What you'll need:

3 cups of Egg Beaters

1 cup of Shredded 2% Milk Sharp Cheddar

1 6oz Package of Canadian Bacon
Non-Stick Cooking Spray
Jumbo Muffin Tin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Spray muffin tin with non-stick spray. Measure 1/2 cup of Egg Beaters and pour into each cavity of the jumbo muffin tin. Finely chop your Canadian Bacon and roughly divide into 6 and sprinkle into each cavity full of egg. Follow with your shredded cheese and divide into 6 and sprinkle on the top of each "egg muffin". Tap the muffin tin on the counter a couple times to help the ingredients settle, and then you're ready to bake!

Pop the muffin tin into the oven and set your timer for 30 minutes. If you like your eggs a little less firm, go 20 minutes. While they are baking it looks like they are blowing up and are going to all meld into one giant mess, but don't worry, they de-puff when you take them out of the oven.

When they are all done, put them on a serving plate and let each person build their own flavors by setting out salsa, green onions, tomatoes, more cheese, diced bell pepper, and any other toppings that you enjoy with eggs.

Here's the reasons why I love this simple recipe SO much:

• Each muffin is ~150 calories
• You can freeze and reheat - I make these in all different flavors on the weekend, pop them into individual zip top bags and I have a microwaveable breakfast to go for the workweek.
• You can mix it up by using bacon and spinach, sausage and pepperjack or whatever tastes suit you
• If you're serving brunch to a crowd you can make them ahead and keep them warm in the crock pot on low.

Hope you have an eggscelent day!

-Meg