Waffle Bites

Super quick and easy to make for breakfast or brunch.  The picture shows bites topped with canned whipped cream.  The next time I made them I picked up real whipped topping from Publix.  It tastes and looks much better than the canned and is about the same price. Basically, the can topping will melt but the whipped will not.  I toasted the waffles in the oven before topping them off with strawberry preserves, whipped topping and syrup.


Ingredients:
1 box of mini waffles-you need to break them apart before you top them.
Half a jar of strawberry preserves
4oz. whipped topping
syrup for drizzling

Baked Zucchini Fries

I saw a few variations of this recipe on pinterist that looked delish so I made my own. I preheated the oven to 425 and baked them for 15 minutes.

Ingredients:

Zucchini cut into 1/4 inch strips

2 eggs

1 cup panko breadcrumbs

1 cup Italian breadcrumbs

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Squeeze of lemon

Salt and pepper

Mix all dry ingredients in a large zip-lock bag. Coat sliced zucchini in egg and transfer to bag. Shake to coat and place on baking sheet.  Bake for 15 mins or until the fries are golden brown. Transfer to serving plate along with a squeeze or two of lemon.

Buffalo Chicken Sausage Puffs with Sweet Peppers and Butternut Squash

This recipe is so tasty my husband ate his leftovers the next morning for breakfast.  It takes no time at all to make, just 20 mins. or less depending on prep.  If you can't find  buffalo chicken sausage at the store, just add hot sauce and a little cayenne pepper to spice up mild sausage.  This recipe brings just the right amount of heat along with the nutty sweet taste of the butternut squash in a flaky puff pastry.  If you're counting your calories it will stand alone without the puff pastry.   If you haven't tried any of my recipes thus far, this would be a great one to start with!


Ingredients:

1 package of buffalo chicken sausage-minus the (remove casing)

1 bag pre-cut butternut squash (if you cut yourself bake first to make for easy entry, then cut into 1 inch cubes)

1 or 2 shallots-diced

1 small bag of mini tri-colored sweet peppers.
  
1 pinch garlic salt, pepper, oregano and paprika

6 frozen puff pastry cups

1 tbspn.  Rosemary (fresh is always best)

Directions:

For Pastries-Preheat the oven to  425 degrees.  Bake puff pastries for 12 to 15 minutes or until they are slightly golden brown.

If you buy the pre-formed puffs, carefully removed the top middle layers first.  The picture above shows the transformation from right to left.

Get out your pan:
Take sausage out of casing.  I remove it to create a ground chicken consistency. Cook over med heat on the stove-top until golden brown.  Remove from the pan and drain excess fat.

Remove chicken from pan:
Saute shallots, squash and peppers with a little olive oil before returning the meat to the pan.  Reduce heat to med-low and cover your pan.  Cook for an additional 15 minutes or until squash is soft.  I like to mash the mixture up a bit before filling the puff pastries.

 As I said above, you do not need the puff pastries if you're watching the calories.  I've made this several times now and this was my first time with the puffs.  My husband noted that he likes it just the same with or without.  I have even made this on the grill, covered with tin foil for about 35 mins.