Stuffed Mushrooms

Recipe courtesy of Finally!5-06

12 whole fresh mushrooms

1 tbs. vegetable oil

1 tbs. minced garlic

1 (8 oz) pkg. cream cheese (softened)

1/4 cup grated parm. cheese

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray baking sheet with cooking spray.  Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel.  Carefully break off stems.  Chop stems extremely fine, discarding tough end of stems.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic and chopped mushroom stems to the skillet.  Fry until any moisture has disappeared, but do not burn the garlic.  Set aside to cool.

When garlic and mushroom mixture is no longer hot, stir in cream cheese, parm. cheese, black pepper, onion powder and cayenne pepper.  Mixture should be very thick.  Using a little spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of stuffing.  Place on cookie sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes in preheated oven, or until the  mushrooms are piping hot and liquid starts to form under caps.