Low Calorie Skillet Breakfast

By Mike Hubbartt, © Copyright 2010, All Rights Reserved.

This was inspired by a meal served at Baker’s Square: the skillet breakfast.

INGREDIENTS (serves 2)

• 1 baked potato (9-10 oz – 220 cal)
• 2 slices bacon (80 cal) or 4 oz chopped ham (204 cal)
• 1/2 cup 2% low fat cheese (Kraft  – 160 cal)
• 1 egg (75 cal)
• 3/4 cup EggBeaters® (90)
• 1/4 cup skim milk (22 cal)
• 2 tablespoons diced onions (~ 15 cal)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Total calories: 220 + 204 + 160 + 75 + 90 + 22 + 15 = 786 / 2 servings = 393 calories/serving.

DIRECTIONS

1. Bake a large potato in the oven (400 degrees 1 hr), then let it cool.
2. Dice the baked potato into chunks.
3. Cook 2 slices of bacon in a skillet, remove the bacon and set it aside.
4. Put the diced potato in a skillet  on the stove, then sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Cook until light brown, then set the burner to low.
5. Mix the egg, egg beaters, and onions in a bowl. Cook the egg mix in a skillet on the stove.
6. Divide the potatoes into 2 bowls or small serving skillets, add some fresh onions and cheese to each bowl/skillet, then ladle the eggs on top.
7. Salt and pepper to taste.

Tip! Try ham chucks instead of bacon, and use scrambled eggs or fried eggs to top your skillet. I also like to salt and pepper the potatoes before adding the other toppings.

Basil Pesto Mashed Potatoes

By Mike Hubbartt, © Copyright 2010, All Rights Reserved.

Potatoes rock, but sometimes you need more choices than baked or fried potatoes. I love mashed potatoes and often make garlic mashed potatoes, but another recipe I came up with is just as good: Basil-Pesto Mashed Potatoes.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 – 2.5 pounds potatoes (880 – 1100 cal)
• 4 chicken bullion cubes or 4 teaspoons chicken base (added to water to make chicken stock – 40 cal)
• Enough water to cover the potatoes in the pan
• 1/2 cup Basil Pesto (I like Classico’s – usually around $2 for a bottle and 460 cal)
• 1 tablespoon butter (102 cal)
• 1/2 cup skim milk (43 cal)

Total calories: 880 + 40 + 460 + 102 + 43 = 1525/6 = 255 cal/serving

DIRECTIONS (Serves 6-8 5oz portions)

1. Set a burner to high, then fill a large pan with water, add 1 teaspoon salt and the bullion cubes or chicken base, then put on a burner.
2. Peel the potatoes, then cut them into quarters if they are small to medium-sized, or more pieces if the potatoes are large.
3. Wait for the water to boil, then CAREFULLY add the potato chunks to the water. Hot water can cause serious burns, so ask for help if you need it.
4. Let the potatoes boil for 35 minutes, then remove them from the hot burner. Turn down the burner to it’s lowest setting.
5. CAREFULLY drain the water, then set down.
6. Add the butter and 1/2 cup skim milk to the potatoes, then mash the potatoes.
7. Add the 1/2 cup basil pesto and mix it into the mashed potatoes. Now enjoy.

Fairly reasonable on calories and easy to make and use as a leftover side dish that works well with pork, chicken or beef main courses. And it is very, very tasty.

Disclaimer: Don’t try this or any other recipe on this site if you do not cook. Working with a hot stove and hot water can be dangerous and you try this and any recipe at your own risk. Be sure to store any leftovers in a place where food spoilage is not an issue.

Mike’s Stuffed Biscuits

By Mike Hubbartt, © Copyright 2010, All Rights Reserved.

The past year I’ve been making different kinds of stuffed biscuits for clients, classmates, and coworkers and have yet to have a negative reaction from anyone that tried them. I was surprised how many women were amazed that I made my biscuits from scratch instead of using a mix, as that was not something they’d expect from a guy. Why make things from scratch? Because cooking is fun and it is less expensive to make things from scratch than buying preprocessed food, and you avoid all those preservatives so prevalent in modern preprocessed foods.

The types of stuffed biscuits I make for meals are:

• ham and cheese biscuits – good for any meal and as a snack
• breakfast biscuits – egg and potato and a protein (bacon, ham, or sausage) – my favorite breakfast biscuit
• hamburger biscuits – my favorite supper biscuit
• Chicken and rice biscuits – rice does not work as well in a biscuit as it does in a wrap
• Sloppy Joe biscuits – tasty and simple, but better as leftovers than fresh

BISCUIT INGREDIENTS (dough for 12 stuffed biscuits):

• 2 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon creme of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup Butter-flavored Crisco
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup skim milk

DIRECTIONS

1. Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees F.

2. Mix the 4 dry ingredients together, cut in the Crisco, and then add the buttermilk and skim milk. The dough is usually a little sticky, so put some flour down on the counter, knead the dough 10 – 15 times, then cut the dough in half.

3. Use a roller to roll out the dough to a rectangle, then use a knife to cut it into 6 equal-sizes pieces.

4. Now, take 1-12 cupcake pan, spray each cup with a no-stick vegetable spray like Pam.

5. Put the 6 pieces of dough into the first 6 cups of the pan, molding them so there is a pocket to hold your preferred ingredients.

6. Add the ingredients in layers, then fold over the tops of each piece to enclose the cup.

7. Repeat steps 3 – 6 with the remaining dough.

This makes enough dough for 12 decent-sized stuffed biscuits.Based on the ingredients, the calories for each biscuit is ~ 120 cal plus that of the stuffing, so they are reasonable for people watching calories. They are also cheap to make, with the majority of cost going into stuffing. The most stuffed biscuits I’ve seen eaten by one person was 4, but the typical serving size is 2.

I generally like two egg and potato and bacon biscuits for breakfast, but only have 1 stuffed biscuit with sides for lunch or supper. I also keep any leftover biscuits in the fridge – I’m not a dietician, so I can’t give advise how long these will stay good, so consult someone you trust if you have any questions about the length of time to keep anything before freezing it. I have frozen and thawed my stuffed biscuits and they were as tasty as the ones we kept in the refrigerator, but we only kept them frozen for a month so we can’t say how they’d taste if frozen longer than that.

Stuffing Tips

Hamburger Biscuits – My favorite: I make 12 small hamburger patties using 1 pound of ground beef and cook the burgers with two pieces of bacon. When the bacon is done I break each piece into 6 pieces, and after adding the burger to the biscuit I put the bacon and a slice of chunk cheddar cheese on the top of each patty.  I then add onions, a pickle, and mustard and ketchup (or BBQ sauce in place of ketchup and mustard) to each biscuit,  then fold over the edges to seal the biscuit. They are tasty and I have yet to have anyone say they didn’t like them.
TIPs! Go easy on the mustard, pickle relish, and BBQ sauce- a little goes a long way and any of theses items can overpower the other condiments. Use chunk cheese, not shredded. Cook the bacon first and then cook the burgers in the same skillet as the bacon, so they absorb the bacon flavor. For the best flavor, use 80/20 meat, but for the lowest calories use 93/7 ground beef.

Sloppy Joe Biscuits: I like Manwich on bread, buns, or in my biscuits, however any sloppy joe recipe should work as long as it isn’t too runny. Definitely a lunch or supper dish.

Breakfast Biscuits: Absolutely one of my favorites. I’ve used both ham and bacon, and believe sausage would also work as the protein in the biscuit. Don’t forget to salt and pepper the eggs and potatoes before sealing and baking the biscuits.
Tip! For an interesting twist, try a few drops of Tabasco sauce on the potatoes and eggs – it rocks.

Ham and Cheese Biscuits: I found that using ham chunks about 1/2″ by 1/2″ works best, and I like to use both chunk cheese and shredded cheese with ham in these biscuits. I tried bacon as the protein instead of ham once, but it wasn’t good. These work well as a breakfast side or main dish, as well as lunch and supper.