Topic Number 1: The Delicious Looking Jalapeno Poppers

The item that started it all, the baked jalapeno poppers. Here's the down and dirty to how we made them:

Keep in mind the plan was to find low cal substitutes/ideas to keep the calorie and carb count down, but at the same time not lose the taste.

Stuff you'll need from the store:

1. As many whole jalapenos as you want to make. (4 calories a pop)
2. Fat free cream cheese. (210 calories for the entire package) It will need to be nice and soft before you start making your poppers. The whole package of cream cheese was almost the perfect amount for the 16 poppers we made. There was just a little bit left over.
3. Some form of regular cheese. (I used a stick fat free twist string cheese, but what it came down to was about 70 calories worth of diced cheese)
4. Liquid Egg Whites. (we used around 1/2 Cup of these, but it's hard to get an exact number on calories, since a lot of the liquid whites themselves don't end up stuck to the poppers. 30 calories per 1/4 cup so we'll just call it 60)
5. Cayenne Pepper. (no calories)
6. Some form of Salt (I used Garlic Sea Salt, but this can be whatever kind of salt you like. No calories)
7. Parmesan Bread Crumbs (one serving, which was 1/4 Cup was 100 calories, but since a lot the crumbs never stuck to the poppers, again, it's probably less than the total 100 calories)

Kitchen supplies you'll need:

A cutting board

A knife

A tray safe for the oven

Tinfoil

A spoon

Three regular sized bowls

A pot full of water, you'll want it to be boiling around the time you start

An oven (preheated to 350)

And away we gooooo:

Prepping the Jalapenos

• Using your knife, score the jalapenos. Run the knife-point down the side and generally around the outside of each jalapeno to create an uneven, rougher surface than a jalapeno normally would have. The point of this is to give the breadcrumbs a place to stick to later in the cooking.
• Drop the scored jalapenos into your boiling water for about 2 minutes to soften them up a little bit.
• Remove them from the boiling water, then cut the stems off and then slice each jalapeno in half lengthwise.
• Seed each jalapeno using your spoon. Scrape out all the seeds and pulpy insides that don't look delicious and jalapeno-y green. You can throw the seeds and pulp away.

Prepping the Cream Cheese Filling and Adding it to Your Poppers

• Open up your softened cream cheese and dump it in a bowl. 
• Take your stick of string cheese (or whatever cheese you went decided to use) and dice it in to small pieces. The size of the pieces is completely up to you. I cut ours pretty small mostly for mixing ease, but also because I was having fun cutting stuff.
• Use a fork or spoon to mix up the cream cheese a little bit, then mix in your seasonings. I went with a pretty healthy dose of cayenne pepper (because I likes it spicy), and added some ground up garlic with sea salt to add a little bit of extra flavor. The amount of seasoning is completely up to you, so feel free to be creative about it. The cream cheese flavor will be the main taste you get, so unless you add a LOT of seasoning, it will only enhance the flavor, not overpower it.
• Once you've whipped the cream cheese and seasonings to your liking, use your spoon to scoop up some of the deliciousness and spread it inside your halved and hollowed out jalapenos. You'll want to fill the hollowed out part completely, and there's no shame at all in overfilling them above the top of the jalapeno too.

Breading Time!

• Get your tray ready for deliciousness by laying down a layer of tin foil across the top of it.
• Take bowl number two and fill it with a cup or so of the Liquid Egg Whites.
• Take bowl number three and fill it with 1/4 Cup of your Parmesan Bread Crumbs.
• Dip the jalapeno half in the Liquid Egg Whites. Roll the jalapeno around until it has a good amount of Liquid Egg White on it.
• Take the previously dipped popper and roll in in the bread crumbs. The scoring you did at the beginning of this whole process should allow the bread crumbs to stick to the normally smooth outside of the jalapeno half. Once the popper is completely coated in your crumbs, set it on your cooking tray.
• Repeat until all poppers are coated in bread crumbs. You may find that the bread crumbs in your bowl become gummy as you get farther in to the process of dipping. We had to dump out our bowl and refill it once to make sure that all of poppers were properly coated in deliciousness.

Now the Hard Part: Waiting for the Poppers to be Finished

• Take your tray full of almost-done poppers and put them in the preheated oven. They're going to need about 40 minutes to bake.We decided they weren't looking quite crispy enough for our tastes, about half way through the baking process we gave all our poppers a little spritz of Pam across the top for that fried-but-not-really taste.
• Once they're done baking, let them sit out for 5-10 minutes to cool. 

That's it, destroy them.

Each popper checks in at under 30 calories a pop if you bake them our way, so your heart won't be a sad panda later in the night.

Here's a caloric breakdown:

Jalapenos - 4 calories per jalapeno x 8 = 32 calories

Fat Free Cream Cheese = 210 calories

Fat Free String Cheese = 70 calories

Liquid Egg Whites = 30 calories for 1/4 Cup, we used around 1/2 Cup, so 60 calories

Parmesan Bread Crumbs = 100 calories per 1/4 Cup

Cayenne Pepper  = 0 calories

Garlic and Sea Salt = 0 calories

Grand total for 16 Jalepeno Poppers = 472 calories, assuming you actually use the entire 1/4 Cup of bread crumbs and all the egg whites (which you won't).

So, 472 calories divided by 16, you're looking at less than 30 calories per Popper!

Post Meal Thoughts/Impressions

These turned out amazing. They were almost out-to-eat quality. The only thing that could've improved it, in my opinion, is if we've had some dipping sauce to dip them in.