Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp with Basil Garlic Stuffing

How's THAT for a mouthful of a title?

In about 2.5 months I'll be having a baby, my first child, and I seriously can't wait. When I'm not cooking or blogging I'm staring at his ultrasound pictures (see below!) and looking at the stuff in his nursery... I just feel so overwhelmed with excitement. Yet, with that excitement comes fear. What if he doesn't like me? What if I never sleep again? What will I EAT when I'm so exhausted I can't stand? Yes... all of those thoughts have honestly passed through my head at one point or another in this process. I've decided the one I can control is the eating- so I plan to fully stock my freezer in preparation for those first few weeks.

However, my freezer is currently jam packed with junk that needs to get used to make room. So before I can even worry about making freezer meals I need to eat the contents of my freezer. Enter this dinner. I had half a pound of bacon in the freezer and half a pound of shrimp... so I googled and discovered this amazing recipe. It was decadent and sinful, it felt like we were being naughty because the flavors were so rich and amazing. This would make for an incredible appetizer, or an extremely indulgent dinner. Either way the flavors all work together and it's outrageous. I went light on the BBQ sauce because I wanted the other flavors to shine and it was perfect.

Oh, and since I mentioned ultrasound pics before I have to share a couple of my baby. If you don't like that sorta thing I'm sorry, but I can't get enough of my bean.

Source: Adapted from Coastal Living via My Recipes

Ingredients:
1/2 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails on
2-3 tbsp. fresh chopped basil
3 tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/2 pound thin bacon
2 tbsp fruit based BBQ sauce, or regular BBQ sauce

Directions:
1- In a large skillet cook the bacon until it's about 3/4 of the way cooked, but not crisp. Remove from skillet and set to dry on paper towel.
2- Butterfly each shrimp by cutting most of the way through the back of the shrimp, from the base to the tip.
3- Stuff each shrimp with a pinch of basil and a pinch of cheese. Press shrimp closed. Wrap in bacon (I used about 1/2 a piece per shrimp, you can use a full piece if you want them really bacon-y).
4- Lay on a greased cookie sheet or in a oven safe dish. Lightly brush the BBQ sauce over the tops of the shrimp.
5- Bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes, until shrimp are cooked and bacon is browned.