Remember my Father’s Day blog? We planted a Jalapeño pepper in one of the pots that we put around the grill. Now our one plant is really producing and I just wanted to give you my go to recipe for peppers. Jalapeño peppers can cost over $3 a pound at the grocery store. Growing one plant will give you plenty of peppers for a minimal cost.
First thing is to wash the pepper, slice it down one side and seed it. The pepper will give off fumes that will make you cough so the best thing to do is to seed them under water. This will help. Once the peppers are seeded you must wash your hands! If you rub your eye afterward without washing your hands you will never do it again. Ouch!
Dry the peppers off with a paper towel. Next stuff each one with cream cheese. Don’t overstuff. The cream cheese will absorb the pepper and bacon taste. Yum.
Next take a half strip of bacon and wrap it around the stuffed pepper. You will need a toothpick to hold the bacon in place.
Now you can place your peppers on a cookie sheet with a rack and heat them in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes. Take them out and turn them over. Finish cooking until the bacon is nice and crisp, about 15 minutes more. You can cook these on the grill as well but use tin foil with a few small holes in the bottom for drainage.
We love to serve these as appetizers but you can also make them a side dish. So delicious. The heat mostly cooks out so the flavor is wonderful without the burn factor.
I’ve heard that you can freeze these but I’ve never done that. Makes sense though and since Jalapeños are so expensive it would be good to use them up and not waste any. I think I’d cook them half way through before freezing. Then I'd take them out - thaw and finish them in the oven for holiday parties.
You can use them on pizza (had one of those in Houston) or in my June 17 blog you’ll find Jalapeños in my salad recipe. Make sure to save the seeds for next year in a dry cool place. That saves money as well.
