I may have found the food of the Gods...

Cafe Society
1

…and of course it involves bacon. What kind of heathen do you think I am?

This may not be new to some of you, but I figure there are enough people
here who haven’t done this that my recipe will be appreciated.

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

Some whole fresh jalapenos, halved lengthwise
A block of cream cheese, ice cold
Shredded Mexican blend cheese (optional)
Bacon strips

Remove seeds and ribs from jalapenos as appropriate, depending
on your preferred level of heat. I don’t recommend removing all,
as the bacon and cheese will overwhelm the jalapeno flavor if you
don’t leave some spicy bits in.

Cut 1/4 - 1/2 inch slices from the block of cream cheese, and optionally
roll the slices in your shredded Mexican blend cheese. Adds a bit of
string to the filling and some more flavor without adding salt.

Press the slices of cream cheese into the jalapeno halves to stuff.
Overstuffing is fine here, a little will melt out the end. Cut your bacon
strips lengthwise into halves, and wrap around your stuffed peppers
to form a bacony coating. Don’t overdo it, as bacon can overwhelm
the other flavors. Also more bacon = longer cooking time, and I prefer
my jalapenos to be still crunchy.

Bake in 425-450 degree oven (a bit lower for gas) for about 10-15
minutes, or until bacon is done and crispy. I recommend baking
these on a rack over a drip pan, unless you like your morsels
soggy and swimming in grease.

Not my recipe, I only modified it slightly. Enjoy!

2

Try baking dates wrapped in bacon, holy crap!

3

You need to get a jalapeno popper pan. I normally do not like single use kitchen items - they clutter up the cupboards and normally only get used a couple times a year, but you can make stuffed jalapenos as well as poppers.

*Jalapenos or cubanelles or other similar diameter peppers prepped for stuffing, hollowed out roma tomatoes, tiny japanese eggplant, half zucchinis
*ground beast or veggie equivalent like quorn
*leftover cooked rice, barley, buckwheat groats, cooked grain of choice
*seasoning - mexican, russian, italian, middle eastern
*sauce - neutral tomato is always good
any other random stuffing ingredient you think would work, minced cooked veggies, cheese, whatever

fill the hollowed out veggie with stuffing, wrap with bacon or not, place in the hole, pop into the oven or grill, proceed to cook as appropriate. Consume with or without beer and assorted side dishes of choice, or take to a potluck picknick.

4

These are great over the campfire with beer or cocktails! Something about eating outside.

5

We started a garden this year, and fully half of the plants we’re growing are peppers. I can’t wait 'til they’re ripe- jalapenos are incredibly good when grilled.

6

We do those on the grill in the summer all the time. They’re like crack - no matter how many you make, they only last about 5 minutes. Hmmmm… I think I’m grilling tonight…

7

Yeah, they’re fantastic on the smoker.