These NEW adorable dinner cupcakes have all the great flavors of Mexican food. The savory topping is a combination of a little guacamole, skinny ranch dressing and salsa. They are fantastically low in calories and fat. Each delectable cupcake has just 107 calories, 3 grams of fat and 2 Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time 40 minutes
Ingredients
1 pound lean ground beef or ground turkey, see shopping tips
1 cup onions, diced into small pieces
½ cup red bell pepper, diced into small pieces
½ cup corn (cut off the cob) or frozen and thawed
½ cup salsa, I love Pace Chunky Salsa (medium) or use your favorite
¼ cup cornmeal or 1 ounce (~⅓ cup) reduced-fat tortilla chips, crushed into crumbs, see shopping tips
1 egg, I like using Egg-Land’s Best eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
½ cup salsa for topping the meatloaf before baking
Ingredients for Topping:
¼ cup mashed avocado, about ½ avocado
2 teaspoons salsa
Dash of salt and pepper
¼ cup salsa
2 tablespoons The BEST Skinny Ranch Dressing (3 ingredients) or fat-free sour cream
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 12-cup, regular size muffin tin with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, combine beef, onions, red bell pepper, corn, ½ cup salsa, cornmeal or crushed tortilla chips, egg, and a little salt and pepper. Mix well until thoroughly combined.
3. Divide meatloaf mixture into 10 muffin cups. Fill to top and level off. I like to use a ⅓ cup measuring cup to fill each. Spread remaining ½ cup salsa evenly over the top of meatloaf muffins. Add more, if desired.
4. Bake 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes before removing from pan. Carefully remove with a spoon and place on paper towels to drain.
5. For topping: In a small bowl, mix together the mashed avocado, 2 teaspoons salsa, a little salt and pepper. Top each cupcake with 1 teaspoon guacamole and spread about ½ teaspoon salsa over the top. Drizzle each with about ½ teaspoon ranch dressing or sour cream.
Makes 10 meatloaf cupcakes
Healthy Benefits
Trader Joe’s extra lean ground beef is a terrific, healthy choice. It has 130 calories and 4 grams of fat for 4 ounces. Free forming the loaf cuts the calories and fat down even further.
Salsa is actually a very healthy food. Thanks to the tomatoes, onions and chilies, it’s heart healthy and can help to prevent certain types of cancer. A ½-cup serving of salsa contains approximately 35 calories, 2 grams of fiber and 0 fat.
Shopping Tips
I used Trader Joe’s extra lean ground beef. Most supermarkets sell extra lean ground beef or use ground turkey, if desired.
You can use either cornmeal or crushed reduced-fat tortilla chips. There are several brands of baked tortilla chips in the supermarkets such as Guiltless Gourmet or Baked Tositos Scoops.
Weight Watchers (old points) 2
Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS 2
SKINNY FACTS: for 1 meatloaf cupcake including topping 107 calories, 3g fat, 17mg chol, 10g prot, 8g carbs, 2g fiber, 323mg sod, 3g sugar
FAT FACTS: the skinny and fat facts are the same for this recipe
Find more delicious, healthy recipes on Nancy Fox’s website, Skinny Kitchen
Nancy Fox
Nancy Fox is no stranger to the food industry. She founded Mrs. Beasley's, a gift-basket company featuring baskets full of decadent baked goods. It became the "hot" gift to give among the Hollywood community. Nancy later opened 2 low fat restaurants called Nancy’s Healthy Kitchen. Her line of reduced-fat cookies were featured on "Oprah's Favorites" gift show. Continuing her passion for cooking and baking Nancy created a recipe website called Skinny Kitchen. Each week she shares skinny recipes, cooking and kitchen tips, food finds and the healthy benefits of many recipes. There’s also nutritional facts and Weight Watchers POINTS on each recipe.
Follow Me:
