Smokey Tuna Bites

Many years ago, my friend Tracy--also a Diner, btw--introduced me to a marvelous smokey tuna spread. Very yummy. Since then, I have always loved the flavors of smokey tuna. Thanks Tracy.

This morning, as I was pondering lunch box snacks, I thought about this spread. Very good, but not so good for a lunch box in the heat we are having. I wanted to leave out dairy. I thought about making them into smokey tuna patties, but don't have any eggs. Remembering how much my hubby loves my recipe for smokey mustard, I decided to give this a go. They are a little on the chewy side. While these are admittedly not the greatest recipe of all, the little bites are convenient, travel well, and offer lots of flavor. Even better--super low calorie! Yes, even low carbers need to pay attention to that.

Smokey Tuna Bites

1 can of tuna packed in water and drained
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 1/2 teaspoons prepared mustard
black pepper to taste (I used the smoked pepper from McCormick)

Blend everything together. Fill silicon baking cups with the mixture and bake at 325 for about 15 minutes. Let cool before removing from cups.

It would be easy to play around with the flavors on this one. If you need a protein snack, this is easy to put together. They would work well as an entree with a side salad too. If you are not a canned tuna lover, sorry, there is only so much a girl can do. I sent them to work for hubby's lunch still in the muffin cups, but they hold together just fine to pop out and stand as a true finger food.