As I was walking into work yesterday morning, I got this text from Hannah.  Ignore the part where I texted her the sales at our local thrift store over the weekend šŸ˜›  

Pickles, the baby squirrel that Hannah tried to save, died overnight.  She feels she did everything right, she read how they like to burrow when they sleep, she had it in a box with plenty of ventilation.  She buried it in the backyard.  I am sure it is only a matter of time before the dogs figure out where it is – fingers crossed they don’t find it!

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Jacob asked if his Dad could come over for dinner on Sunday.  So I bought one more steak.  The kadults were working until 6:00, so Jacob told his Dad to come at 6:30.  Guess what time he showed up at?  4:00!   So I don’t have any pretty pictures of my take on this bubble up breakfast from Daily Dose of Pepper (which I now realize she calls a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit bake!)   Let’s say I was “inspired” by her recipe to come up with this one.  Her original recipe was 8 smart points per serving.  My version is 10 points for 1/4 of the cast iron skillet.

So while I had hoped to make this with plenty of daylight and get good pics, I was a good hostess and hung out with Jacob’s Dad.  Who now wants to do this EVERY Sunday.  I don’t mind Sunday dinner, but hopefully he’ll come at the required time so I can finish the stuff I want to.  This recipe is so easy though – I put it together in a matter of minutes, popped it in the oven, and 30 minutes later it was done.

My first substition was to use Jennie-O turkey sausage.  Only 1 smart point per two ounces vs. 1 point per piece of bacon in her recipe.  The second substition was that I used only 4 eggs and used 1 cup of egg whites.  And lastly, I used Trader Joe’s lite mozzarella (one point per ounce) in place of the American cheese she used.  So you can see, mine was inspired by Star – thanks for the inspiration though!

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Oh, and I had a zucchini that needed to be used up, so I added that in with the sausage.

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Just mix, pour and bake!

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Bubble Up Breakfast Bake

Biz
A great meal plan breakfast - 4 servings at 6 WW points each.  Cook once and breakfast is set for the week!
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 4 1/4 of skillet

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup liquid egg whites
  • 4 large eggs
  • 8 ounces Jennie-0 turkey sausage, chopped
  • 1 cup zucchini, chopped
  • 3 tablespoons milk
  • 1 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • 4 ounces Trader Joe's lite mozzarella
  • 8 portions reduced fat refrigerator biscuit

Instructions
 

  • Cut the refrigerator biscuits in quarters and toss them in a big bowl.  Add all remaining ingredients except the cheese and mix well.  Pour into a cast iron skillet, or casserole dish.  Top with cheese, another sprinkle of dried parsley, and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

I wish I had a better picture to show you, but this was delicious.  Only one tiny problem.  When I entered this into my recipe builder, I forgot to add the reduced fat biscuits, so instead of being 6 points for 1/4 of it, it’s 10 points per quarter.  But I was only able to eat half of my serving yesterday, so 5 points for 1/8 isn’t too bad! 

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I added two points to my tracker yesterday šŸ˜›

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Jenn and I walked at lunch – it was an absolutely gorgeous day.  We walked north on Wabash and never saw this sculpture before.  Hi Jenn!

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It was a tad windy too šŸ˜€

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While I know you’ll look at this and think “that’s lasagna soup!”  Nope.  This is tomato soup with baby cheese ravioli and spinach.  I had a giant pot of marinara I made last weekend that had to be either used up or frozen.  I froze two cup portions and had about a cup leftover, so mixed that with one cup of chicken broth and viola!  Tomato soup.  My store sells their homemade ravioli that is 6 points for 1 cup and delicious.  I only reheated the cooked ravioli for about 30 seconds, just to get the chill of from the fridge, then when I heated up the hot soup, just poured the ravioli into the soup and it heated through as it sat on my desk.

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It was a busy day at work, so it went by fast.  Jacob is back doing low carb/keto and when I mentioned I was making Michael Symon’s Cinncinati chili he asked if that would work in his diet.  Yep!  The only difference between Michael’s recipe and mine was that I left out the onions (duh) and I only made half a batch using 95% lean sirloin beef.

Jacob had his served over sauted cauliflower.  Hannah tasted it and thought it tasted like ass, or in her words “it tastes like chili pasta sauce.”  It is a different consistency then regular chili, because it’s meant to be chili mac, but the flavors are amazing – cinnamon, cocoa powder, sherry vinegar.  Yum!  I have some for lunch today.

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I wasn’t hungry for dinner yet, so I went to the gym.  Here is the obligatory next to the janitor closet, gym selfie.  I did two miles on the treadmill.  Five minutes of 3.8 mph, then each additional five minutes I jogged – my last 5 minutes was at a 6.2 mph pace!  

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I got home a little after 9 p.m. and the thought of having chili made me want to throw up.  So I made toast!  One savory:  7 grain bread (5 points for 2 slices) topped with 2 ounces deli turkey (1) and 1/2 container guacamole (2) and the second sweet: 1 tablespoon peanut butter (3) strawberries and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar.  I could have that for any meal any day of the week.   11 points of deliciousness.

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I haven’t been on Half Baked Harvest’s blog for a while, but I saw this on Instagram, and this is going to happen this weekend – doesn’t it look amazing?!  Honey, apple, cheddar, and bacon panini.  Um, yes please!

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As far as I know, my parents in law are still without power.  I am going to get in touch with them sometime today to see how they are doing.  Just so glad they are okay!

Alright, the train is almost into the station – happy Tuesday – make it a great day!