Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Cream Cheese Stuffed Jalapenos & Secret Santas

I have seen these around for awhile & thought it was time to try them this past weekend. With only 3 ingredients, they were easy & excellent! I'm even debating whether these will be an appetizer for Christmas. The bacon really pulls it all together but beware, if you don't like the heat, step away from the peppers. In my thoughts below I have linked to a very short story about an extremely painful experience I had when I first worked with these little peppers. I laugh about it now. Now.

Please visit Lisa at Blessed with Grace for more Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays!



10 jalapeno peppers, halved & seeded
1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened (may only use 1/2)
1 package regular bacon, cut into halves

Halve jalapenos & take out all seeds. The more you leave behind the hotter these will be. I do this with a 1/4 tsp measurer which fits perfectly. Be careful not to come iAdd Imagen direct contact with the seeds & oils on the inside of the pepper. Stuff each half with about a teaspoon of cream cheese. You don't need too much. Wrap with a half piece of bacon & secure with toothpick.

Cook in pre-heated oven at 350 degrees until bacon in done, about 20 minutes. If bacon needs to crisp up a bit more then put under the broiler for 1-2 minutes as you don't want to overcook the peppers. Mine were done in 20 minutes in the oven & 2 minutes under the broiler.

My Thoughts

Be careful! I had a personal experience with very bad burns from jalapenos when I first worked with them 6 years ago. Read the short story here. Also, when wrapping the pepper with bacon, try not to overlap the layers. This way, the bacon cooks evenly & there is more than just one strip on top of the pepper.

Click Here to Print Recipe

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SECRET SANTA REVEALED

For more Secret Santa stories, please visit Kori who coordinated this entire shindig. Thanks Kori!

I also wanted to share what my Secret Santa sent me for Christmas. When I opened the box this weekend, each present was individually wrapped & they seemed to keep coming & coming. Thank you so much Alicia, over at Yaya Stuff. I was in kitchen heaven.

A Rachel Ray recipe book I have already marked up, mini snowman & Christmas tree silicone baking pans I have already used for banana bread, cookie cutters, recipe cards, baking sprinkles, Christmas themed mitt, potholder, dishtowel, spatula & whisk, initialed pad, magnetic grocery list.

I loved it all so much that I started putting a lot to use & just realized what's missing here is the LAUGH sign I already put up in my spare bedroom. Alicia aka Yaya put a little note on it saying that's all that seemed to be missing within my LIVE.LOVE.EAT. So true.

43 comments:

Kori said...

So glad you loved your stuff and had a wonderful time.

Rebecca said...

I love stuffed jalapenos and those look totally awesome with bacon on them!

Danyele Easterhaus said...

ur secret santa rocks! wow! super cute and fun and useful stuff!!!

Becky W said...

What great stuff!! You are going to have share some of the Rachel Ray recipes!!!

Tina Butler said...

I could eat that whole plate. I love jalapenos, but then i am from Texas. Great SS gift.

Jen said...

what a great sercet santa gift. did they know you or what?

Melissa said...

Y-u-m-m-y....my man will love these!!! I think I will make him a treat this weekend!!
Oh and how exciting about all your secret santa stuff...how fun!!

Deanna said...

Those stuffed jalapenos look amazing. I am going to bookmark those for our Super Bowl party! They will be a HIT.

Yellow Beads said...

man oh man, what a great gift you got there girlie!

Yellow Beads said...

man oh man, what a great gift you got there girlie!

mub said...

Those poppers look good!

I noticed in your header you had a "More Homemade Gifts" section. Have you posted the curry lentil soup recipe? I'd love to try it!

Kristina P. said...

I almost made these for my cookie exchange. I got a recipe off of Pioneer woman. But I decided to go with the bacon wrapped smokies instead. Maybe next year.

tiarastantrums said...

look at all your goodies - so much fun!!

LOVE THAT RECIPE - a must try in this house!

Pam said...

The jalapenos look so good! Thank you for the tips on de-seeding jalapenos - what a horrible experience you had!

Threeundertwo said...

Those peppers look delicious! I have to try those.

The secret Santa gift looks so fun.

Kacey said...

These look FAB girlfriend! I didn't read your side story yet - but Brian ALWAYS ends up putting his fingers in his eyes after handling peppers. Hopefully that is not what your story is about. I'll read it tonight.

Your Secret Santa ROCKS! What awesome and thoughtful gifts. I'm playing catch up over here! :o)

Linda said...

I don't like peppers, but those look really good. Thanks for stopping by my blog.

FROGGITY! said...

That's SO cute!

Those jalapenos are gorgeous! I was just telling my mom the other day how much I miss eating jalapeno poppers with my dad (haha) ... these might be a great substitute! :)

Nanna said...

those peppers look good but I don't think my galblader would like them LOL, thnaks for coming by my blog, I gotto thinking about my recipe & realized I posted the wrong one, please come back & get the right one for the Martha Washington Balls
Helen

Unknown said...

The phrase put bacon on it comes to mind. Back home bacon went on everything and I just got a flash back looking at that picture.

Sweet Pea Chef said...

I love spicy food, so this recipe looks like heaven to me. Bacon is my favorite too! Thanks for sharing...

Carrie and Jim said...

Great secret santa stuff. I also had a bad experience with peppers. Gotta love them, gotta hate them.

Tabitha Blue said...

Looks good... although I don't love the heat... but they still look yummy!!!

:)
~Tabitha~

freshmommyblog.com

Courtney said...

Wow, my husband is going to LOVE these!

Piece o' Coconut Cake said...

Wow, I can't believe you didn't know that...one time my husband picked one up and then HE TOUCHED HIS EYE! It was swollen for 2 days.

Rachel said...

Wow a Secret Santa swap how fun!!!

Maria said...

Great appetizer idea! And what fun gifts!

THE Stephanie said...

Oh I do love me some stuffed jalepenos!! Being from Texas and all... yummy!!!

Coco said...

I love stuffed jalepenos, make them all of the time. If you do half regular cream cheese and half pineapple cream cheese, even better! Try it next time, you will die. The tad bit of sweet with the salty bacon and spicy japs. Can't beat it.

And you hit the jackpot with the secret santa!!

The Blonde Duck said...

Congrats on your secret santa! That looks so fun!

Michelle said...

Great loot you got!

Lump said...

awww I wish I got in on this Secret Santa... had no idea about it.

So sweet of Alicia. You got some fabulous gifts! :)

Anonymous said...

looks good, although I am not sure I could stand the heat. I am sure my husband would love it! Bacon is his favorite food!
Toni

Claremont First Ward said...

Yum.........they look delicious! And different!

Alyson | New England Living said...

I love jalapenos! I've never seen poppers with bacon. Sounds really yummy!

What a great package you got! You lucky thing.

Anonymous said...

I haven't tried it yet but I've heard those stuffed peppers are wonderful cooked on the grill.

Lisa@BlessedwithGrace said...

That sounds great! Thanks for participating in TMTT.

Lula! said...

This time next year I hope we are celebrating the release of your cookbook. Remember--I will be your publicist/mananger/what-have-you.

Sigh...
now I'm hungry...

LRFK said...

I can't wait to try the stuffed peppers recipe. Looks great!

Unknown said...

I tried to make stuffed peppers similiar to the ones you have here and it was disastrous. I love your package oodles : ). Creative and thoughtful people totally rock in my book!

Anonymous said...

Yay! Glad you liked your gifts! I had so much fun picking them out. Forgot to tell you that they were a few random things I threw in that were out of the 'kitchen theme' bc I was shopping for your gift AND 'Mammarazzi's Favorite Things Swap' so I grabbed some of my fav things for you as well! (ie; notepad and 20Q game). Lol!

Laila said...

Oh, that looks so good! I had an omelette in Portland years ago that had cream cheese, jalapeno and bacon in it and I've loved the combo since. Thanks, as always, for your lovely comments. I am in the top picture with my best fried and the last one is just a picture of her looking over the Tiber river.

Country Mouse, City Mouse said...

Great kitchen items, Merry Christmas.