Love Affair with a Jalapeno

If I could attribute our happy marriage to one recipe, this would be it: Jalapeno Poppers.  I promise if you bring this dish with you to a party (or the Superbowl this weekend) people will fall in L-O-V-E with you.  I’m not sure what the secret ingredient is, but it will be instant love.  Since I’m counting on having happy guests at our Superbowl party you can put money down that I will be making these bad boys on Sunday.

Ingredients:

• 18 ripe jalapenos
• 2 packs low fat cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups sharp cheddar, shredded
• 6 green onions, chopped
• 2 packs bacon
• toothpicks
• barbeque sauce (I use honey BBQ)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line the inside of a broiler pan with aluminum foil (You’ll thank yourself for this later).
2. Slice jalapenos in half and scrape out the seeds and membranes (I strongly recommend wearing gloves for this step).  Soak jalapenos in a bowl of cold water for about 15 minutes, then soak again for another 15 minutes with fresh cold water.   This will help the jalapenos cool off a little bit.
3. Mix cream cheese, cheddar, & onions, and scoop filling into jalapenos.
4. Cut bacon strips in half and wrap each jalapeno with a half strip of bacon, and stick a toothpick through to hold in place.
5. Put jalapenos on broiler pan with the toothpicks in the broiler pan cracks.  This will prevent the jalapenos from falling over.
6. Brush about a teaspoon of barbeque sauce on each popper and “pop” them into the oven.  Cook until the bacon looks done, about 30-45 minutes.

Praise the Lord for jalapeno poppers!