Stuffed Mushrooms

BEST SIDE DISH EVER!. Literally my mouth was drooling almost more for these than the rest of the meal.  Ben and I decided to make a lovely dinner for his dad's family after his amazing father decided to take his own time out to give us some training in the pharmacy :). Great guy. So we made tilapia, stuffed mushrooms, a simple salad, and cottage cheese with some fresh pineapple. Healthy, filling dinner! The tilapia was nothing difficult... just a little bit of EVOO, with dill, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, and lemon juice put in the oven till it was done! SO EASY!  If you'll notice, we even made cottage cheese and pineapple a fancy little addition to spice up the table in martini glasses!  THEN the mushrooms went faster than freakin' bday cake. They were such a hit; next time we'll HAVE to double or even triple the recipe. Enjoy making them!

Ingredients:
button mushrooms (1 pack from the grocery store should suffice)
pepper, just a few strong shakes from the shaker
garlic (either 4ish cloves or garlic already minced)
1/4 c. parmesean cheese (the BEST is the kind that is actually shreaded, not the cheap kind in a powder)
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
8 oz cream cheese (fat free would be a good way to save a few calories)
~2 tbsp vegetable oil

Directions:

Begin by removing mushroom stems.  This is actually a lot easier than it sounds.  I thought it would involve carving the bottom of the mushroom like a pumpkin. NOT at all. Just take and twist and they just pop right out.  Don't throw the stems away.  Mince the garlic really fine (if using cloves).  Mince stems. Add the stems and garlic to a little bit of oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.  Watch carefully as to not burn the garlic.  Keep on until the liquid has disappeared and therefore getting all of those delicious flavors flowing! Stir in cream cheese, spices, and parmesean. The liquid should end up pretty thick and at that time you can begin spooning it into the mushroom tops (ALREADY on the baking sheet cuz they're a PAIN to move).  Then top with a tiny bit of parmesean for garnish.  Also it serves as a little bit of a guard after the parmesean melts a little bit, so that all of the fillings don't fall out.  Serve warm.  I'm warning you ... you may need to double this because they're soo good! ENJOY!

Ben's dad also cooked burgers, and they weren't going to get eaten... so Ben had one on the side.  Also weirdo here liked the sauteed onions that we made, on top of his tilipia.  Other than that... DELISH