I tried to grow jalapeno’s this year, but I wasn’t super successful. My peppers all got covered in aphids early on. I kept the aphids sprayed off for quite a while, but they eventually got to be too much to handle. I ended up ripping them out of the beds to try to mitigate the problem from spreading throughout my whole greenhouse.

I wanted the jalapeno’s for salsa and cowboy candy. I froze my tomatoes from my greenhouse over the summer as we got too many to eat. I didn’t have time or enough at once to process anything, so I waited. This past week I made salsa, but I had to go buy the jalapeno’s.

Costco has a pretty good deal on a big bag of jalapeno’s, so I grabbed one of those, not knowing what I’d do with the rest as I only needed 4 or 5 for the salsa. But I had an idea.

I have never really liked jalapeno poppers, but my husband loves them. I decided I could use up some of these peppers in this way. I scoured the internet for a recipe that I thought I might try, but kept coming back to the ones with bacon. Not traditional, but I needed something to make them more appetizing for me to want to try.

I made them on Friday evening, and oh my goodness, they were delicious! So I thought I’d share what I did here:

Jalapeno Poppers

8-12 Jalapeno’s (depending on size)

1 – 8oz package Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Bacon – 8-12 slices cut in half

Here’s where you can adjust the recipe, because I didn’t really follow the one I had very well. I used the same ingredients you find in many recipes, but I didn’t measure, so I’m not sure how much of each ingredient, you’ll lhave to go by taste

Granulated Onion

Salt

Pepper

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place your cream cheese in a bowl, add the grated cheddar and sprinkle with the onion, salt, and pepper to taste. Mix well. Wash your jalapenos and cut in half lengthwise, leaving the stem on (this just keeps the filling from oozing out the top).

Remove the seeds and ribs so you have a clean, hollow space and then fill with cream cheese just level with the edge of the jalapeno. Don’t overstuff. Wrap your bacon around the pepper, tugging on the bacon to wrap the whole way from top to bottom. You can use toothpicks to hold it in place, I didn’t and as long as I had it tightly wrapped it was fine.

Place peppers on a parchment or foil lined baking sheet and pop them in your preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or so. This is where every single recipe varied. Some said 20 minutes others said an hour. Mine took about 45 minutes. You want the bacon to be crispy and the cheese to be melted and toasted a little bit where it shows through the bacon.

Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before diving in as they’re like eating hot lava if you don’t.

My son-in-law loved these so much that he requested them for his birthday, which we’ll be celebrating tomorrow. When dinner was ready last night, I decided to try a little bit even though I don’t like them. I found the smallest one and cut it in half. I ate that one and changed my tune really quick. I grabbed one more.

When I was done eating, I took my grandbaby so my daughter and her husband could eat dinner together. When I came back into the kitchen later, the jalapeno poppers were all gone. My daughter, who was also skeptical as to whether she’d like them either, agreed to try one as well. I believe she ate 3 whole ones plus that other half I had saved for her. This will definitely be going on my holiday menus and probably occasionally on a weeknight meal as well.

Featured Artwork: