Paula Deen's Lean: Bacon Wrapped Breadsticks (Asparagus Spears)

Recently, Paula's website was all about bacon. Shocking, I know. She featured tons of recipes, all including this wonderful southern meat. The one that looked really easy and delicious to me was her Bacon Wrapped Breadsticks. Being that there are very few ingredients in this appetizer, I was left with little room to make healthy adjustments. To make the biggest nutritional impact, the foundation of this recipe, the breadstick, has been swapped for asparagus. This not only saves calories and carbohydrates, but it opens up the possibility for this recipe to be served as a side and not just an appetizer.

BACON WRAPPED BREADSTICKS ASPARAGUS SPEARS

Makes 24 Spears (about 8 servings)

INGREDIENTS:

24 asparagus spears
12 slices Reduced-Fat bacon (center cut)
1 teaspoon garlic salt or powder
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut bacon slices in half. Wrap one bacon half around each asparagus spear. Line the wrapped spears on a lined baking sheet, sprayed with Fat Free olive oil cooking spray. Sprinkle garlic salt over the spears. Bake for 20 minutes. Sprinkle cheese over the spears and bake an additional 3-5 minutes, or until cheese melts. Let cool slightly and serve.

If serving as an appetizer, use honey mustard dipping sauce.

RESULTS:

I was really happy with the way these turned out. We do baked asparagus at least once a week in our house, so this was a nice change. Even though the breadsticks were replaced with a veggie, they are still satisfying and filling. It doesn't take much to get your fill. We had ours with dinner as a side dish (and you only need 3 or 4).

I would definitely make these again as a party appetizer. They are just enough to get the appetite going without filling you up too much. ENJOY!