Jalapeno Poppers

When I lived at home with Mom and Dad, we had pepper in the house. It sat in a shaker next to the salt. That was the extent of pepper usage, I think. In my grown up years, I've graduated to the bold use of green peppers...and sometimes {gasp!!} even yellow and red!

But jalapenos? Oh no. Wayyyyyy too much heat in those.

But a few weeks ago, Ryan came home with a handful of jalapeno peppers given to him by someone at work. He asked if I could find a recipe to make jalapeno poppers at home...so of course, I Pinterested. Found this recipe and made a pretty close version of it. We declared it a winner and keeper...and a few days ago, he came home with a few more jalapenos.

It's a tradition on Shafferland Sunday nights to have appetizer style foods - especially during football season - so I'm excited to have a new recipe in our repertoire. It's not the healthiest item in our recipe box...but it is certainly all kinds of delicious!!

Hope you love them! And if you have never tried cooking with jalapenos before...don't let them scare you! It might just be one of your new favorite things!

Jalapeno Poppers

* 12 jalapeno peppers
* 1 brick of low fat cream cheese, softened
* 1 cup shredded cheese
* 1 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/2 teaspoon paprika
* 12 slices of bacon

Wash the outside of the jalapenos and CAREFULLY cut them open and remove the seeds. {See below for warnings on the heat and its effects!!!} Combine cream cheese, shredded cheese, garlic powder, and paprika in mixing bowl and beat until well combined. Spoon the cream cheese mixture into the pepper halves and wrap 1/2 slice of bacon around each one. Secure with a toothpick and bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or grill until bacon is cooked well.

* The original blog post said you can assemble these the day before and cook the next day, if that should ever be helpful to you in party prep. She also said you can assemble and freeze them for up to two months, thaw them overnight and then bake or grill. I love anything that lets you work ahead!

* Since this was Ryan's treat, we used real bacon, but I think these would be just as good with turkey bacon...and if you used low fat cream cheese and low fat shredded cheese, they would be just about as healthy as a jalapeno popper could get. {You could also cut down on the amount of filling you put inside each pepper to help with the calorie count.}

* If you really don't like jalapenos, you could use this filling inside the similarly sized sweet peppers that are red, yellow, and green. They would be small, fun, and a good appetizer without the heat.

* We noticed ours got spicier with time. So the ones we did not eat immediately and reheated the next day had more of a kick to them.

* We dipped them in ranch too...not because we really wanted to make them even more calorie laden, but because the ranch added some cooling for our poor little tongues!!

* Let's talk about the heat. It is NO JOKE. I think Ryan and I might be both overly sensitive to the heat, so when Ryan cut the peppers, he wore a mask and glasses. Unfortunately, even though he washed his hands twice after working with the peppers, he must not have gotten all of it off his hands, and he ended up with a face on fire after he touched his face! So next time we're adding gloves. Maybe you could get away without all the gear, but if you are sensitive like we are, you do NOT want to mess with it. Too painful!!

* Having said that - the deliciousness is worth it!! We love this one!