Stuffed Mushrooms, a la Adam

So New Year's Eve, I tried out making my own stuffed mushrooms. We love stuffed mushrooms, and get them all the time at restaurants. Funny enough, I think my favorite are actually Olive Garden's.

I based my recipe off of a couple of other recipes I found, but added my own twists. Kristen's words after eating these were: "Home run babe. Home run." Most stuffed mushrooms have some kind of seafood in them (crab, clams, etc.), but these use the much more accessible bacon, and are super easy to make. I hope you enjoy them!

Ingredients
About 1/2 lb. (20-30) whole mushrooms
1 package cream cheese, softened
1/4 C. grated parmesan cheese
Dash of cayenne pepper (about 1/4 t.)
Dash of onion powder (about 1/4 t.)
6 slices bacon
1 medium clove garlic, minced fine
Italian bread crumbs (I use Progresso - only about $1-2 at the grocery store)

Cook the bacon slices in a pan until crispy. Wipe out the pan with paper towels, retaining a little of the bacon fat in the pan. Chop (or crumble) the bacon very fine.

Remove the stems from mushroom caps, and rinse both stems and caps well, then dry with a paper towel. Chop up the stems fine, then fry them with the garlic in the retained bacon fat. Once any moisture has evaporated (about 5 minutes - careful not to burn the garlic), mix them with the cream cheese, parmesan cheese, bacon, and spices.

Fill the mushroom caps with the cheese/bacon mixture (you can fill beyond the top - just don't add too much, or they will bubble over). Then dip the cheese-filled end in bread crumbs. This will help keep the filling from bubbling out of the mushroom.

Place the filled mushrooms (not touching) filling side up on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 about 15-20 minutes, until the mushrooms are piping hot (the liquid from the mushrooms will start to pool under them). Enjoy!