Every spring, I get excited about gardening. And even though spring isn’t here yet, I am planning what I want to plant. Last year, my garden went crazy with peppers. With my surplus of jalapenos, I decided to make jalapeno poppers and then freeze them for later use during tailgating and family parties. This recipe comes from my good friend’s husband. I hope you enjoy this yummy and simple appetizer as much as my family does.

{Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers }

Ingredients

Jalapenos

Bacon

Cream Cheese

Shredded Colby Jack or Cheddar Cheese

(I’m not listing amounts because it all depends on how many you want to make, but I did about 7 1/2 dozen jalapeno poppers, which took three packages of bacon and three packages of cream cheese.)

Directions

Let the cream cheese soften so you can easily mix in the shredded cheese. Then cut your slices of bacon into thirds and set aside. Slice each jalapeno in half and scrape out the seeds and the membranes (I would definitely recommend wearing gloves for this). I found that using an apple corer worked really well otherwise just a simple knife and spoon works well, too!

Next, spread the cream cheese mixture onto each of the jalapeno halves. Wrap each one with bacon. You can use a tooth pick to secure them if you are going to grill them right away. But I found that for the most part the bacon stuck to itself so I didn’t need to use the toothpicks on the ones that I put into the freezer.

Place the bacon-wrapped jalapenos on baking sheets lined with wax paper and freeze them for an hour or so (until hard). I then vacuum-seal eight poppers in freezer bags and popped them in the freezer to use at a later date! When we get ready to grill them, I’ll let them thaw partially and then place them on the grill until the bacon is crispy. Enjoy!

Sara Ross is a farmwife, mother, marketing manager, and CommonGround volunteer. She grew up in Nebraska and now lives in Iowa with her husband on their family farm. She uses her blog (www.sarashousehd.com) to share her everyday life on the farm with anyone wanting more information about how their food gets to the table.