Gameday Grub | Bacon-Wrapped Heaven

Everything tastes better with bacon.

Everything. I'm not kidding.

You don't add bacon to recipes. You add recipes to bacon. It's the Chuck Norris of foods. So what, possibly, could be added to bacon to make bacon better?

Baked Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

Jalapenos. Cheese. Deliciousness. Bacon-wrapped heaven. Thank you, Pinterest, for gracing me with this recipe (originally found here: http://blogchef.net/bacon-wrapped-jalapenos-recipe/) and the inspiration for my creation. As a note, the original recipe grills them, which, now that the weather is getting better, will be fantastic. I baked mine. They're really greasy, so be warned!


Baked Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers
Yield | 12-16 poppers

Prep Time | 10 minutes
Bake Time | 10-12 minutes
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Ingredients:

6-8 whole, fresh jalapenos
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese (I used reduced fat)
A handful of shredded cheese, your choice (in this variety, I used cheddar)
12 slices bacon

Optional variations:

1 clove garlic, minced      |      1/4 cp pineapple, diced      |      Bleu cheese crumbles
1/3 vidalia onion, diced    |      Splash of soy sauce
1 tablespoon EVOO

For this recipe, I used the garlic and vidalia onion combination.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Halve and seed jalapenos.

Soften cream cheese as you prepare your other ingredients (if you choose any, the original recipe was simply cream cheese, bacon, and jalapenos, so it's up to you!). For mine, I sauteed up the garlic and onion with 1 tablespoon EVOO over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, until the onions were translucent.

Add shredded cheese and extra ingredients (in our case, onion and garlic) to cream cheese and mix. Spread into jalapeno halves, wrap with bacon, and bake for 10-12 minutes, until bacon gets crispy and brown.

If jalapenos start to look done before the bacon, just throw them under the broiler for a minute. Serve with ranch dressing.

So good. Got the boyfriend seal-of-approval. Football season-level approval. That's a big deal.

I think next time I'm going to try them with pineapple and a light splash of soy sauce... or maybe some Cajun seasoning (my addiction). And we may just have to grill them!

Next time: Double Chocolate Cookies... so melt-in-your-mouth delicious you won't be able to stand it.

Seriously. They're like the bacon of cookies. So good.