Healthier Jalapeno Poppers

If you're ever look for a good crowd pleasing recipe, this is the one. I love making this dish whenever a friend is having a get together or when we plan on having a few people over. This recipe is especially good during football season.

A typical jalapeno popper is breaded and deep fried. While I don't mind indulging every once in a while, I don't quite enjoy the feeling I get after eating greasy fried foods. Because of this, I take my favorite things about a dish and lighten them up without depriving myself of the good stuff too much. The best part about these jalapenos is that you can actually taste the jalapeno itself. Most jalapeno poppers taste like fried breading and either cheddar or cream cheese only. They never truly taste like a jalapeno! These poppers are SO addicting thanks to a little secret ingredient you'd never expect in a dish like this.

Yield: 30 jalapeno poppers

• 15 fresh medium/large jalapeno peppers
• 8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese (room temperature)
• 1/4 cup Hormel Real Bacon Pieces
• 1/4 cup reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp Old Bay seafood seasoning
• 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 400°. Cut the tops off the jalapenos then slice the peppers in half lengthwise. Using a small knife, remove the insides of the pepper (seeds and veins). 

In a small bowl, add cream cheese, bacon, cheddar cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, and Old Bay and mix until thoroughly combined. Spoon filling into each jalapeno half equally. I like to use a butter knife so I can press the filling into the jalapeno while also running the knife along the top so there is no excess filling spilling over top. 

Place jalapenos on a baking sheet lined with foil and bake for 15 minutes. While the jalapeno poppers are baking, mix together the Panko and olive oil in a small bowl. You want the olive oil to just barely moisten the Panko. When the poppers are done cooking, remove from oven and top with the Panko mixture. This step requires some time - sprinkling the Panko mixture on top quite doesn't work. The cream cheese mixture cooks so the Panko just slides falls off the top if you don't take your time to gently spoon it on top. 

Once each jalapeno half has been topped with the Panko, place back in oven and bake for 10 more minutes. After 10 minutes, turn on the broiler for no more than 2 minutes just to brown the topping. 

Taco Stuffed Shells

Every Friday, I spend about 20 minutes planning out my meals for the next week and making my grocery list. I like to plan what I will make for dinner Monday thru Friday and use the leftovers from each dinner as my lunch throughout the week. This helps me to make sure no food is wasted and that I don't have to buy any extra food for lunch!

A big part of my meal planning is coming up with meals that keep my budget in check. I love to cook but that doesn't mean I need to spend a lot of money doing it. I've been trying really hard lately to thing of budget meals that are not only healthy, but also fill me up. While strolling through foodgawker.com, I found a recipe for Mexican stuffed shells that not only sounded amazing, but looked super easy to make. The ingredient list was small and required little money to buy - two things I look for now when cooking during the week. I made a few healthy swaps of course and now find myself making this meal at least twice a month.

• 1 lb 93% lean ground turkey 
• 2 tbsp taco seasoning
• 4 ounces reduced fat cream cheese
• 1/2 box jumbo pasta shells (16-18 shells total)
• 16 ounce jar salsa
• 1 1/4 cup reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
• Taco toppings: sour cream, green onions, black olives, diced tomatoes, etc.

Preheat oven to 350°. In a pan, brown the ground turkey and add taco seasoning. Once cooked through, remove from heat and mix in the cream cheese, allowing it to melt. Set aside and allow meat mixture to cool. 

While the meat is cooling, cook pasta according to package directions. Once shells are done, drain and set shells on a cutting board to cool. While the shells are cooling, add salsa to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until smooth. 

In a medium bowl, mix 1/3 of the salsa with the meat/cream cheese mixture, and shredded cheddar cheese. Pour remaining salsa on the bottom of a 9x13 glass baking dish. Stuff each shell with 1-2 tbsp of the meat mixture and place in the dish (open side up). Cover dish with foil and bake 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove foil and sprinkle with remaining shredded cheddar cheese. Continue to bake for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Top with your favorite taco toppings. 

Recipe adapted from: The Girl Who Ate Everything

Ranch Chicken & Hasselback Potatoes

One of my all time favorite foods is the potato. I love potato soups, baked potatoes, oven roasted potatoes, breakfast potatoes, you name it. Every year for Christmas Eve, my aunt makes mini hasselback potatoes and I count down the minutes on the oven timer until they're done and I can dig in. Seeing the amount of time my aunt put into making them, I quickly realized that they required a lot of patience to make but for some reason I never told myself to just give it a try. 

If there's one thing I hate about baked potatoes, it's the time it takes for them to bake. One weekend, while craving potatoes, I finally sucked it up and gave hasselbacks a try and I was SO pleased with how they turned out - they are well worth the wait I promise you.

Along with the potatoes I decided to make baked ranch chicken. Now I'm not the best when it comes to cooking meat; it's hard for me to get it just right. Somehow though, I managed to get it right this time around. The chicken turned out so juicy that I had to take a picture just to prove it. 

Yield: 4 servings

• 4 medium or 6 small russet potatoes
• Olive oil for drizzling
• Sea salt
• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 tbsp from a single packet Hidden Valley Greek Yogurt Ranch powder
• 1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 sleeve whole wheat Ritz crackers
• 2 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 425°. Wash and dry the potatoes. Slice a small piece off the bottom of each potato to prevent the potato from rolling as you cut. Take two wooden skewers, wooden spoons, or anything you don't mind getting nicked with the knife as you cut the potatoes, and set on each side of the potato.

Cut small slits in the potatoes stopping before you slice all the way through - this is where the skewers/wooden spoons come in handy. Each slice should be about 1/8-1/4 inch apart. Place potatoes on a baking sheet (lined with foil), drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for 30 minutes.

While potatoes are baking for their first 30 minutes, prepare the chicken. In a freezer Ziploc bag, add the Ritz crackers and crush with a rolling pin. Once crushed to the size of bread crumbs, add the ranch powder and Parmesan cheese. Empty contents into a shallow dish (you want something big enough to dredge the chicken in).

Brush each chicken breast with melted butter then dredge in the ranch mix. After each chicken breast is well coated, lay in a glass baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle any remaining ranch mix on top of the chicken and lightly spray with cooking spray. 

Once the potatoes have cooked for 30 minutes, remove from the oven and drizzle with a little more olive oil. Put the potatoes back in the oven along with the chicken and continue to bake for 25 minutes. Remove the chicken and cover with foil; bake covered for another 10-15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and topping is golden brown.