Jalapeno Poppers with Cream Cheese & Bacon

I found this basic recipe on The Pioneer Woman's website, Tasty Kitchen, and have modified it just a bit for caloric reasons. I did lift some of her preparation instructions from her website - check it out for step by step photos!

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 24 poppers

Ingredients:

1 box (8oz) of Philadelphia 1/3 Less Fat Neufchatel Cream Cheese
12 jalepeno peppers (2-3” long)
12 slices of thin sliced bacon

Preparation:
1) If you have them, slip on some latex gloves for the pepper prep… Cut jalapenos in half, length-wise. With a spoon, remove the seeds and white membrane (the source of the heat; leave a little if you like things HOT).
2) Smear softened cream cheese into each jalapeno half. Wrap jalapeno with bacon pieces (1/2 slice).
3) Secure by sticking toothpick through the middle. (At this point, you can freeze them, uncooked, in a Ziploc bag for later use).
4) Bake on a pan with a rack in a 375-degree oven for 20-25 minutes. You don’t want the bacon to shrink so much it starts to the squeeze the jalapeno. If, after 20 minutes, the bacon doesn’t look brown enough, just turn on the broiler for a couple of minutes to finish it off. These are best when the jalapeno still has a bit of bite to it.

Serve immediately, or they’re also great at room temperature.

                       Calories - 0% Carbs - 50% Fat - 50% Protein
Per Popper:        42              0                  3g                3g

Mushroom Marsala Pasta w/Artichokes

I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen's website (an amazing site if you haven't been there before!) and she has a great step-by-step tutorial with pictures on how to make it. It is SO delicious though that I just had to include a post about it here as well. :-) My husband normally is not a mushroom guy, and even he liked this recipe!

Prep Time: 10 min.

Cooking Time: 20 min.

Serves: 6-8 (or 4 very hungry men)

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 pound mushrooms, trimmed, cleaned, & chopped into small bits

1 tsp. kosher salt, plus 1 Tbsp for pasta water

1 c. dry Marsala wine

1 pound ditalini pasta

1/2 pound frozen artichoke hearts, thawed (I used 1 can of canned artichoke hearts)

3/4 c. grated Parmesan

1/2 cup cream

1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Cooking Directions:

1) Place olive oil (I used EVOO) in a large skillet over med/high heat. Add onions & cook for one minute.

2) Add mushrooms & 1 tsp. of the salt. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until all the moisture has evaporated & mushrooms have cooked down (5-10 min).
3) While that's sautéing, bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat for the pasta & stir in remaining salt.
4) Add the pasta & cook until al dente, stirring occasionally (8-10 min).
4) While pasta is cooking, add the Marsala wine to the mushroom/onion skillet and continue cooking until almost all the wine has evaporated (about 5 min).
5) Drain pasta & and add it to the skillet.
6) Add the artichoke hearts, Parmesan, and cream & cook until the artichokes are heated through (about 5 min).
7) Stir in the parsley & pepper just before serving.

Delicious!

                       Calories - 66% Carbs - 16% Fat - 17% Protein

Per Meal:              3000           415g               101g              109g
Per (1/8) Serving:  375               52g                 13g                14g
Per (1/6) Serving:  500               69g                 17g                18g