{football friday} corn & cheddar stuffed jalapeños

Well, here we are only two games into the season, and I can already see that this may be a year where I'm more excited about the food than the outcome of the game. I'm not losing hope, and I never waiver in my alliance. But I'm also not blind. There's not much to cheer about on the Auburn sidelines so far - all the more reason to enjoy the sideline snacks, in my opinion. 

This week's recipe...

...was inspired by Carrie over at Bake-a-holic Mama. Carrie does amazing food on her blog... some really yummy stuff. (I met Carrie at the King Arthur Flour Blog & Bake event I attended over the summer). Her recipe for Macaroni and Cheese Stuffed Jalapeños is no exception. I'm not suggesting my recipe replace hers on your menu. My vote: make 'em both! Mine may be a "little" slimmer on the calorie side of the menu, so you've got the perfect balance for your tailgating menu. 

Lastly, if you're enjoying games at home, you might also want to give these Crab-Stuffed Jalapenos from Cooking Light a try... with an avocado dunk, they sound delish! And be sure to check out all the appetizers being added daily to the galleries over at Healthy Aperture.

Corn & Cheddar Stuffed Jalapeños

by Regan @ The Professional Palate

6032557

Ingredients (12 stuffed jalapeños)

• 1 slice bacon
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 cup canned (drained), fresh or frozen (thawed) corn kernels
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon low-fat Greek-style yogurt [I used Cabot]
• 3/4 cup (3 ounces) light Cheddar or pepper jack cheese [I used Cabot], divided
• 6 jalapeños, cut in half lengthwise and seeds removed

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or coat with cooking spray.

Cook bacon over medium-high heat in a small skillet until crispy. Remove bacon from pan and discard all but 1 teaspoon of drippings; set bacon aside.

Turn down heat to pan to low and add cumin seeds; toast in skillet 30 seconds (be careful not to burn). Add corn and lime juice to pan and cook for 5 to 10 minutes or until all moisture has evaporated.

Turn off heat to pan. Coarsely chop cooked bacon and add to pan. Stir in salt, yogurt and 1/2 cup of cheese just until combined. Divide mixture evenly among halved jalapenos and place on baking sheet. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until peppers are softened and cheese is melted.

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This is an open blog hop. If you're planning on blogging delicious eats for football season, I invite you to join in. Simply fill out the link to share your recipe - everyone's welcome, all football season long. And please be sure to visit the other recipes listed for more great tailgating ideas.

1. Santa-Fe Casserole	2. Smoky Sweet Potato Dip	3. Build-Your-Own Waffle Bar	4. Spinach Queso
5. Cake Balls with Team Spirit	6. Rice Krispie Treats with Salted Caramel Swirl	7. Buffalo Chicken Dip	8. Caramel Apple-Pecan Bars
9. Mac n' Cheese Stuffed Jalapenos Wrapped in bacon	10. Joe Montana's Touchdown Guacamole	11. Carrene RD: Cider Vinegar Coleslaw	12. Buffalo Chicken Garbage Bread
13. Team Colored Popcorn	14. Corn & Cheddar Stuffed Jalapeños	15. Sausage Biscuit Bites	16. Tailgate Bacon Appetizers
17. Baked Corn Dip	18. Caramel Corn	19. Spicy Beer-Cheese Corn Soup	20. Sliders
21. Spicy Honey Roasted Peanuts	22. Chicken Club Egg Rolls with Avocado Ranch Dip	23. Proscuitto-Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers	24. Italian Pasta Salad
25. Go-Go Gators Swamp Dip	26. Honey Ham Biscuit Sliders	27. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread	28. Lightened Up Pimento Cheese
29. Chili Roasted Chickpeas	30. Football Twinkie Pops	31. Jalapeno Mac	32. Jerk Bloody Mary
33. {lightened} Spinach-Artichoke Dip	34. Potato Thins	35. Vancity Foodie	36. Halloween Candy Brownies
37. Grilled Stickies	38. Fiery Salsa	39. Hot Chocolate Bar

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{football friday} caramel apple-pecan bars

I know for folks who aren't used to being "that girl" (or guy) who brings the "healthy stuff" for tailgating, taking that first step can seem daunting. I mean really... who wants to be the buzz-kill at the game showing up with the wilted veggie tray and fat-free ranch dip?

Not me.

If you didn't immediately whip up a batch of last week's Smoky Sweet Potato Dip, shame on you... but I understand. You need a gentle step forward.

How about dessert? Or for those early morning games, something a little sweet to balance out your bloody mary :)

These Caramel Apple-Pecan Bars

are an ideal choice for the reluctant healthy tailgater. They're a cross between a coffee cake & a bar cookie... two phrases that make me smile, especially when shared in a sentence.

First up, they're sweet... which by itself means they're likely going to be a fan favorite. But they're made with dried apples + 100% whole wheat flour (hello healthy fiber) and topped with pecans (yummy, healthy nut).

I also used Greek-style yogurt in place of some of the butter in the original recipe to trim a little bit of the overall saturated fat as well. I got the idea from my friends over at Cabot Creamery, who recently developed this handy substitution chart for their Greek-style yogurt. I love it because you can use Greek-style yogurt in place of higher fat ingredients; same taste & texture, fewer calories and more protein. [As most of you know, Cabot is a client of mine... they didn't ask me to share this with you, but I couldn't resist. I think it's too darn cool.]

Anyway, back to the bars. Let's be clear on one thing, these aren't short on sugar. And sugar is sugar. It tastes great. But it's nothing but empty calories. Having a 100% whole wheat fruit filled bar cookie doesn't necessarily mean you can eat the whole pan. But I can promise it's a better choice than that box of store-brought brownies your friend picked up at Kroger on her way to the game. I say those are the real buzz kill :)

Happy tailgating!

Caramel Apple-Pecan Bars
by Regan @ The Professional Palate

Adapted from MyRecipes.com

6032155

Ingredients (12 bars)

• 1/4 cup butter, softened


• 2 tablespoons plain Greek-style yogurt (I used Cabot)


• 1 cup sugar


• 3 eggs, beaten


• 1 cup white whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur Flour)


• 1 teaspoon baking powder


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon


• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg


• 2 cups sliced, dried apples, chopped


• 1/2 cup pecans halves, chopped


• 1/4 cup homemade Caramel Sauce or store-bought caramel

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8- x 8-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Cream butter and Greek-style yogurt in a large mixing bowl; gradually add 1 cup sugar, beating well. Add eggs, and beat well. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and spices in a small mixing bowl; gradually add to creamed mixture, stirring well. Stir in apples.

Spoon mixture into prepared dish. Top with pecans. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center of bars comes out clean. Let cool. Drizzle with caramel and cut into bars.

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***

This is an open blog hop. If you're planning on blogging delicious eats for football season, I invite you to join in. Simply fill out the link to share your recipe - everyone's welcome, all football season long. And please be sure to visit the other recipes listed for more great tailgating ideas.

1. Santa-Fe Casserole	2. Smoky Sweet Potato Dip	3. Build-Your-Own Waffle Bar	4. Spinach Queso
5. Cake Balls with Team Spirit	6. Rice Krispie Treats with Salted Caramel Swirl	7. Buffalo Chicken Dip	8. Caramel Apple-Pecan Bars
9. Mac n' Cheese Stuffed Jalapenos Wrapped in bacon	10. Joe Montana's Touchdown Guacamole	11. Carrene RD: Cider Vinegar Coleslaw	12. Buffalo Chicken Garbage Bread
13. Team Colored Popcorn	14. Corn & Cheddar Stuffed Jalapeños	15. Sausage Biscuit Bites	16. Tailgate Bacon Appetizers
17. Baked Corn Dip	18. Caramel Corn	19. Spicy Beer-Cheese Corn Soup	20. Sliders
21. Spicy Honey Roasted Peanuts	22. Chicken Club Egg Rolls with Avocado Ranch Dip	23. Proscuitto-Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers	24. Italian Pasta Salad
25. Go-Go Gators Swamp Dip	26. Honey Ham Biscuit Sliders	27. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread	28. Lightened Up Pimento Cheese
29. Chili Roasted Chickpeas	30. Football Twinkie Pops	31. Jalapeno Mac	32. Jerk Bloody Mary
33. {lightened} Spinach-Artichoke Dip	34. Potato Thins	35. Vancity Foodie	36. Halloween Candy Brownies
37. Grilled Stickies	38. Fiery Salsa	39. Hot Chocolate Bar

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

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Chinese Take-Out...without the take-out {recipe: sesame shrimp & pineapple fried rice} + a giveaway for Cooking Light Real Family Food cookbook

If I can be honest for a minute, the hubs and I were Pei Wei addicts when we lived in Southlake, Texas. I hope that doesn't destroy any conjured up images you may have of me as a foodie RD... but seriously, what busy mom doesn't do take-out every once in a while? And when you have Pei Wei at your disposable, there's no shame in making it a regular habit.

But sadly... the Augusta, GA area is without Pei Wei (and that's not all from a food standpoint, but I won't heap on too much criticism for the moment.)

So I have taken it upon myself to "Cook-In Our Take-Out."

I did this fairly nice rendition of Orange-Peel Shrimp recently

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let's call this one muffin tin monday

Hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend! If you missed my {football friday} kick off last week, be sure to check out... and don't forget to enter the giveaway.

Today's post can be filed under basic baking recipes we all need in our repertoire. Enjoy!  

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{football friday} season kick-off with smoky sweet potato dip + a southern living cookbook giveaway!

Inevitably, every year on a weekend in April or May my husband will be surfing TV channels and express with great exasperation, "I wish football season lasted all year." 

To those of you around the country and across this globe who have no real love for football, I know this sounds crazy. To those of you who grew up as I did immersed in the culture that is "SEC Football," you get it. I know you do. 

Last year's {football friday} posts were immensely popular here on my blog, so I couldn't help but host again this season. And to kick things off, I've got a very, very special giveaway below for one lucky reader! I was lucky enough to snag a copy of Southern Living's new SEC Tailgating book (enter to win at the bottom of this post).

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recap from soyfoods council tour + chocolate-cherry snack bars

I've been hoping to blog a recap from my recent trip to Iowa for weeks now. But with school starting back, I've just been treading water to get dinner on the table every day & get through my normal plan of work. There was so, so much information shared on that trip (and of course, pictures to be downloaded & reviewed), I just haven't had a time until now to re-visit that trip.

But this last week, after learning that my son could no longer bring peanut butter or peanut flour foods in his lunch, I felt a huge sense of urgency to try my hand at a recipe idea that I'd been brewing on every since my soy tour. Read all about the recipe below.

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shrimp & grits

I have tried, seriously, like 5 times to write this post. Squarespace - where this blog is built & hosted - has fought me every step of the way. So today, you get a recipe + images + a frustrated blogger :) 

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{the recipe redux} memorable vacation meals - sweet pepper panzanella

I'm not usually stumped when The ReDux theme rolls around, but this month's topic almost did me in. 

When I realized we were opting to ReDux "memorable vacation meals", I realized two sad facts

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this week's suck & sweet

If today's blog title throws you, let me briefly explain. 

One of my favorite summer reads of the 20+ books I've managed to squeeze in this summer is Slammed by Colleen Hoover. An amazingly touching young adult love story, it's a heart-tugging story of loss, youth cut short by circumstance and new found love bound by tragedy. I adored this story and it's follow up, Point of Retreat.

And it's from this story that today's blog topic comes from. Here, I'll let Will (the swoon worthy male lead of the book explain)

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updates from healthy aperture & a recipe for chipotle cheddar biscuits

Today's post is an exercise in opposites. 

Up first, Healthy Aperture.

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