Fiesta Taco Bubble-Up

First of all, this is a Weight Watcher's recipe - yay! I love these bubble-up dishes made with biscuits. I would make this every week - it's that good. The leftovers were super good too; I had those for lunch today.

Check out these other Bubble-Up dishes I've made:
Bubble-Up Enchiladas (WW recipe)
Chicken & Biscuits Alfredo Bubble-Up (not as healthy, but delicious of course)

1 lb extra lean ground beef
1 7.5 oz package refrigerated biscuits, (10 biscuits to the pack) (I had to buy 2 5-packs)
taco seasoning packet
1⅓ c salsa
2 c diced peppers, I used red, orange and yellow
1 c diced onion, I used red onion
1 c light shredded cheese, I used 2% Mexican blend
green onions
fat-free sour cream for topping, optional


Preheat oven to 350F, spray a 9x13 casserole dish and set aside.

Brown your ground beef and add taco seasoning. Mix ground beef and salsa together in a bowl. Cut up peppers & onion, and cut your biscuits into 6 pieces each.


Place half of your biscuit pieces in the bottom of your casserole dish, top with half of your meat mixture, half of your peppers and onions and half of your cheese. Repeat layers and finish with your chopped green onion on top.

Loosely cover with foil and bake in oven for 35 minutes, remove foil and continue baking for 15 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes then cut into 6 servings. Top with a spoon of fat free sour cream (optional)



Original recipe found here.

Skinny Sloppy Joes

So one day, I asked Will what he wanted for dinner... Sloppy Joes. Well, of course I searched for a "skinny" recipe... and of course, I found one from SkinnyTaste! It was SO GOOD. Will even said the best sloppy joe he's ever had. Big deal, guys. I love that it uses so many minced up veggies!

1.25 lbs very lean ground beef
1 tbsp steak seasoning or seasoned salt
1 carrot, minced
1 medium onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup red bell pepper, minced
4 oz mushrooms, minced
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 cups tomato sauce
2 tbsp tomato paste

I minced all the veggies up in my Ninja.

Chop all the vegetables really fine, using a chopper or food processor. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the meat to the pan and break it up as it cooks. Season with steak seasoning and cook the meat until it browns, then add onion, garlic, carrots, mushrooms and red peppers to the skillet. Reduce heat to medium and add red wine vinegar and Worcestershire sauce, cook 5 more minutes. Add tomato sauce and paste to pan, stir to combine. Cover and reduce heat to simmer and cook an additional 5 minutes. Using a measuring cup, pile 1/2 cup of sloppy meat onto toasted buns.

Original recipe found here.

Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes

These are amazing! My dad and Will ate a ton. So good, so easy, and so yum!! Must make!

1 lb lean ground beef
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 c beef broth
1/4 cup A-1 steak sauce
2 tsp peppercorn steak seasoning (like McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
Sliced Provolone or Mozzarella
Hamburger Buns

Brown beef in a large skillet. Drain fat & set aside. In the same pan heat olive oil & sauté onion & pepper for 4 minutes until starting to soften. Return beef to the pan with the vegetables.

Whisk cornstarch with a little bit of water, and add into beef broth. Add the steak sauce & beef broth/cornstarch mixture to the meat. Add steak seasoning, salt & pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid is absorbed.

Toast hamburger buns (if desired) & top with meat mixture & a slice of cheese. (I placed my slice of cheese in the warm pan with the meat, waited until it melted & scooped up the cheesy meat mixture onto my bun.)

Original recipe found here.

Breakfast Mini Pizzas

I had no idea these would be so good! I mean, this looked good enough for me to want to try it, but I wasn't sure it would be something I would have often. Wrong! I loved these.

I am always looking for healthy, easy, high protein breakfasts under 300 calories - this one comes in at 250 cal! Yay! I'm not someone who can just eat a granola bar for breakfast. Also, I NEVER skip breakfast. I don't feel good and I get irritable (and everyone knows we don't need that).

This is definitely something I would be able to make during the school year too. Give it a try before you judge!

1 egg (70 cal)
1 egg white (3 tbsp Egg Beater's Egg Whites - 25 cal)
1 English muffin (Thomas' Light Multi-Grain - 100 cal)
2 tbsp marinara sauce (15 cal)
2 tbsp part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese (40 cal)
Sometimes I stir a few green onions into my eggs

Cut the English muffin in half (if it's not already) and toast in toaster oven on the light cycle. Scramble your eggs, being sure to add some salt/pepper. After muffins are done, spread 1 tbsp of marinara on each half. Top with scrambled eggs, then sprinkle 1 tbsp of mozzarella on each half. I did put mine back in the toaster oven for a couple minutes to get the cheese melted and brown. :)

Original recipe found here.

Unsloppy Joes

These are pretty much sloppy joe calzones in biscuits and they are awesome! I feel like this would be great for kids too... (Will and I tend to like food that kids like).

You've probably seen the commercial - here's a link to the Grands!® Unsloppy Joes recipe.

1 lb lean ground beef

1 can sloppy joe sauce (15 oz)

1 tsp chili powder
1 can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® refrigerated biscuits 

1/2 c shredded cheddar 

Heat oven to 375° F. In large skillet, cook ground beef over medium-high heat until beef is thoroughly cooked, stirring frequently; drain. Stir in sauce and chili powder; simmer 5 minutes.

Press each biscuit into 6-inch round. I put each biscuit between 2 sheets of wax paper and rolled it out. Then, peeled it up and put it onto the cookie sheet. I filled it with the sloppy joe mix once the biscuit was on the cookie sheet.

Spoon 1/3 cup meat mixture and about 1 tablespoon cheese onto center of each round. Fold dough in half over filling; press to seal. Bake for 12-15 min or until golden brown.

Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Bread

I saw this recipe on Pinterest and decided I HAD to try it once I realized an entire loaf was supposed to be 500 calories. My version isn't quite as light, but ohhhhh it's delicious! The original recipe can be found here.

Batter:
1 can pumpkin
1/2 c cinnamon applesauce
1 whole egg
3 egg whites
1 2/3 c flour
1 c sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Cream Filling:
8 oz red-fat cream cheese
1/4 c sugar
1 tbsp flour
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the batter: Beat pumpkin, applesauce, egg, and egg whites on medium speed until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Slowly add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture.

For the cream cheese filling: Beat all ingredients until smooth.

Grease two 8x4 loaf pans (this makes 2 small loaves). The batter is pretty much going to be divided into 4 parts. Half the batter, and divide that between the 2 loaf pans. Pour half the cream cheese filling in one pan, and half in the other. Then top both with the remaining pumpkin batter. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool and remove from pans. Store in fridge in an airtight container.

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

Oh man - DELICIOUS! I had to cut the loaf for the picture, so of course I ate that piece immediately afterward.

1 c all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c granulated sugar
1/4 c packed brown sugar
1/4 c canola oil
1/4 c peanut butter
1 egg
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray loaf pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients until well-mixed. Create a well in the center and pour in remaining ingredients - oil, peanut butter, mashed bananas, egg, and extract. Stir until just mixed, then stir in chocolate chips. Pour into loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour. Let cool in pan for about 10 min after.

Sticky Buns

I made these Christmas morning and they were perfect. The whole thing came out looking so nice. It was absolutely delicious. We basically finished off the whole thing ourselves.

I found this idea on Pinterest, and the recipe on this website. It has nice step-by-step pictures. So easy and so good!

2 tubes of biscuits
3 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 c pancake syrup
1/3 c packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a flute pan with cooking spray. Combine syrup and melted butter in a small bowl and set aside. In another bowl combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans. Pour about half the syrup mixture in the bottom of the pan, then sprinkle half the brown sugar mixture over the syrup.

Now, lay the biscuits in the bottom of the pan, overlapping the edges closely to form a ring (see picture below). Top with the rest of the syrup and brown sugar mixtures. Bake for 25-30 min or until golden brown. Cool for 1 min in the pan, then invert onto a serving plate.

Homemade Calzone

This was the funnest thing EVER to make! And so good too. A must try! I saw this on Pinterest and found the recipe here. There are great step-by-step pictures at the site to help.

So... this is what is looks like on the website:

And here is ours:

We put a little cheese on top of the loaf so it looks a little different.

Ok, so here's what you will need, and what we did:

pizza dough
pizza sauce
cheese
can of mushrooms
olives
pepperoni

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. I had two things of refrigerated pizza crust (thin crust). So, I put those together on parchment paper, and rolled it out into one big rectangle. Then, put pizza sauce down the middle, followed by pepperoni, olives, mushrooms, cheese, etc. Cut the dough on the sides at about 3/4 inch intervals. After all the cuts are made, start folding them over like the pictures on the website show. If you have used parchment paper, you can easily just pick up the loaf and move it to a baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for about 25 min. So fun and easy!!!

Honey Beer Bread

Found this delicious bread recipe on Pinterest and it came from this website. This could not have been easier nor more delicious!

3 c flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp honey
1 bottle of beer (12 oz)
4 tbsp melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease loaf pan. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using a wooden spoon, stir the beer and honey into the dry ingredients until just mixed. Put the honey in the microwave for a few seconds beforehand so it mixes in more easily. Pour half the melted butter into the loaf pan, then spoon the batter into the pan. Pour the rest of the butter on top. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Onion and Fontina Beer Batter Bread

Another really delicious Cooking Light bread recipe! Mmmmm.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 c diced onion
3 c flour
3 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 c grated fontina cheese
1 bottle beer 12 oz (amber ale - I used Fat Tire)
1/4 c butter, melted and divided

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion, and saute 6 min or until tender. Cool to room temperature. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center of mixture and add onion, cheese, and beer. Stir until just moist. Pour batter into an 8x4" loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Drizzle evenly with 2 tbsp butter. Bake for 25 minutes, then brush with remaining 2 tbsp butter, and continue baking about 20 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in the middle of loaf comes out clean. Cool 5 min in pan, then cool on wire rack.

Jamaican Banana Nut Bread

This is a Cooking Light recipe, like a lot of my recipes. However, this is my own picture since there wasn't one online. This is so delicious and you just have to make it.

2 tbsp butter, softened
2 tbsp (about 1 oz) block-style 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
1 c sugar
1 egg
2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
.
1 cup mashed banana (about 2 bananas)
1/2 c fat free milk
2 tbsp dark rum (or you can use 1/4 tsp rum extract)
1/2 tsp grated lime rind
2 tsp lime juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
.
1/4 c chopped pecans
1/4 c flaked sweetened coconut
.
Topping:
1/2 c packed brown sugar
2 tsp butter
2 tsp lime juice
2 tsp dark rum (or 1/8 tsp rum extract)
2 tbsp chopped pecans
2 tbsp flaked sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. To prepare bread: Beat 2 tbsp softened butter and cream cheese with a mixer at medium speed, adding sugar. Add egg; beat well. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking power, baking soda, and salt. In a small bowl, combine banana, milk, rum, lime rind, lime juice, and vanilla extract. Alternate between adding flour mixture and banana mixture to the creamed mixture. Mix in after each addition. Then, stir in 1/4 c pecans and 1/4 c coconut. Pour into an 8x4 in loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake for 1 hr.  Let cool in pan 10 min, then remove from pan and let cool on wire rack.
To make topping: Combine brown sugar and 2 tsp each butter, lime juice, and rum in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook 1 min, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 2 tbsp each pecans & coconut. Spoon over loaf.