What to do with all those Jalapenos!

If you are like me and grow tons of jalapeno peppers, don't fret! I have an idea!! I did this last year and it worked fantastically! I use lots of jalapenos for my salsa and canning, but I always have lots left over and they would go bad if I tried to eat them all fresh. So last year I decided to freeze them, it was lovely. My husband and I both love jalapeno poppers. I think it just reminds us of a super fun time we had on a friends trip to Lake Powell together! On this trip some of our friends made these poppers of which I will include the recipe/instructions to make. We loved them and I make them at home often, but it seems I want them in the winter too when the jalapenos just aren't in season. So what I did was... on one day I picked all the extra jalapenos, washed them, removed all the stems and seeds and left them cut in halves (lengthwise), then I froze them. So whenever we got a hankerin' for jalapeno poppers I just had to pop them out of the freezer, fill them with the good stuff and bake. Easy Peasy! It can seem like a lot of work to stem, cut in half and remove all the seeds of many peppers at once, but then you are done in one day and the rest is fast/easy! So when my friends did these, they cut the top off the pepper and then filled the pepper with cream cheese, stuffed a Little Smokie down inside and wrapped in bacon. The only thing I did to modify their recipe was I prefer a smaller bite, so I cut the peppers in half then fill with cream cheese, Little Smokie and wrap with bacon. Works for me! Bake at 400 degrees for about 10-15 min. (also I prefer the pre-cooked bacon instead of the raw stuff, it takes less time and crisps up nicer!) Another thing I like to do sometimes is brush them with a little bit of my favorite BBQ sauce, mmm!

Jalapenos, stems and seeds removed and cut in half lengthwise
Cream Cheese
Little Smokies, sausages
Pre-cooked bacon
Toothpicks to stick through, to hold together
Your favorite BBQ sauce if you want





Ingredients

Cut off stems, cut in half (lengthwise) and remove seeds and veins.

Fill inside of hollow pepper halves with cream cheese.

Wrap bacon slice around and tack in place with toothpick. (because these were small jalapenos, I used a half of a Little Smokie and a half a slice of bacon.

Ready for the oven. (These took 11 minutes on 400 degrees, you may need to increase baking time for larger peppers, I would say not to exceed 15 min.)

Hot lovin' from the oven!
MMM...hubby must have smelled them cooking from a mile away, he's here just in time!






Remember to either wear rubber gloves when handling hot peppers or wash hands with soap and cold water immediately after cutting to avoid burning your hands/fingers. And don't get the juice in your eye, ouch!! Never wash with hot water, it will burn worse! The majority of the heat in these peppers is in their seeds and veins so if you don't like too much spicy heat just remove them and they will be quite mild. Leave them in if you want the fire!