Can i Limit CPU usage of my VM?

Good morning...

So recently I ditched my work PC laptop and now exclusively use my Macbook Pro, which is my one and only computer at this point...

I am a .NET programmer, so I depend day in and day out on Visual Studio, requiring me to run Parallels (i have the latest version) on Windows 7 inside a VM...

Lately, and maybe it's been getting worse or maybe I am just noticing it more and more, the Parallels program here in OSX Lion will sometimes sit above 100% CPU usage causing my laptop to run it's fans on a constant basis.... is there any way to put a cap on the amount of resources it is taking? I'm OK with the VM being a little slower if it means my laptop isn't going to run itself into the ground...

Thanks in advance

oh, just to put some context to all this, my laptop has specs saying it is pretty strong, but it surely doesn't act like it:
- i7 2.13 Quad Core
- 8 gigs of RAM
- OWC 240g SSD hard drive