After-Work Gourmet by Lisa Messinger

In this current penny-pinching world, McDonald's recently had a shrewd idea. Turn an entree into a snack to save dough, add flavor and increase innovation. The Mac Snack Wrap ditches the bun, reduces beef in its use of bite-sized pieces of the famed Big Mac burger, adds more inexpensive lettuce and twists it all up in a tasty, easy-to-hold flour tortilla.

Sliders — the mini burgers available at Burger King, Applebee's and many other chains — are another saucy snack that retains fun and flavor while cutting back on expensive meat.

What easy entrees can you creatively call into service as strategic snacks? Here are a few ideas:

— Cocktail waitresses in the private Luxe suites, located at the chic Lucky Strike bowling alleys/lounges in Hollywood and near Los Angeles' Staples Center, cruise around offering trays of tiny bites of fried macaroni and cheese. To copy, seal bite-sized portions of your favorite macaroni and cheese in store-bought won ton wrappers using egg wash as the glue and glaze. Fry carefully in oil that's been heated to 375 F until golden brown, or follow the panko bread crumb recipe from Food Network host Alton Brown below.

— After microwave heating one of those hand-held containers of store-bought soup, like Campbell's creamy tomato flavor, drop in a few pieces of popcorn chicken, lobster or shrimp — small pieces you've lightly battered and fried.

— Flip-flop the idea of a meat-and-potatoes meal. Carefully cut cooked baked potatoes into quarters. Press down flesh gently with a fork, spread with salsa, top with a thin sliver of a medium-cooked steak — that's been seasoned with salt and pepper — and top with dollops of store-bought sour cream and guacamole.

— Cut store-bought chocolate truffles in half. Bury a half in the middle of a bite-sized scoop of firm ice cream, roll quickly in crushed kids' sweetened cereal and freeze on wax paper until very hard.

MINI CHIPOTLE BEEF BURGERS

2 pounds ground sirloin

1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 chipotles in adobo and 2 tablespoons of adobo sauce

2 tablespoons grill seasoning, a couple of palm fulls, (such as Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick)

Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

12 slices, 1/2-inch thick, brick-cut smoked cheddar or sharp cheddar, optional

12 small round rolls, split

Yields 12 snack servings.

Preheat grill pan to high.

Place the meat in a bowl. Cut the onion in half. Grate half the onion into the meat using the small grate on a box grater. Chop and reserve the other half of onion for serving the mini burgers. Add Worcestershire, chipotles and sauce, and grill seasoning to burgers.

Drizzle a little extra-virgin olive oil over the bowl and mix meat. Score the meat into 4 sections. Make 3 mini-burgers — each 3 inches wide, 1-inch thick — from each half-pound of meat.

Grill meat 2 to 3 minutes on each side and top with cheese, if you like.

Place burgers on buns, and top with raw chopped onions and other condiments of your choice.

— Rachael Ray "30 Minute Meals TV"

FRIED MACARONI AND CHEESE BITES

1/2 pound elbow macaroni

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon powdered mustard

3 cups milk

1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 large egg

12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded

1 teaspoon (preferably kosher) salt

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Topping:

3 tablespoons butter

1 cup panko bread crumbs

For fried macaroni and cheese:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon cayenne

1 egg beaten with 2 ounces water

1 cup panko bread crumbs, or more as needed

Yields about 20 appetizer servings.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta to al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt 3 tablespoons butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf and paprika. Simmer for 10 minutes and carefully remove the bay leaf with a utensil.

Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving, if eating immediately. If using for fried macaroni and cheese, let cool and then place, covered, in refrigerator at least overnight.

For fried macaroni and cheese: Cut refrigerated macaroni and cheese into slices or bite-size pieces.

Season the flour with salt, pepper and cayenne.

Dredge each piece through the flour and gently tap off excess. Dip in the egg wash and then coat with the bread crumbs. Allow them to rest for 5 minutes, so the crust can set.

Preheat oil to 375 F.

Very carefully drop into the oil and fry until golden brown.

Very carefully remove with utensil to a baking sheet fitted with a rack, and rest for 2 minutes before serving.

— Alton Brown "Good Eats TV"

Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the author of seven food books, including "Mrs. Cubbison's Best Stuffing Cookbook" and "The Sourdough Bread Bowl Cookbook." She also writes the Creators News Service "Cooks' Books" column. To find out more about Lisa Messinger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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