Mmmmm.... Foooood......

So the last couple of weeks have been really tough.  It has been unfortunate and I won't go into it; Nothing anyone reading this cares much about.  The important thing for this is that, typically, when I am saddened, I make foodstuffs!

It can be very difficult to balance a couple things, though.  Not feeling well but wanting to make food means that we don't really want to clean up much.  Very terrible.  Thus is the balance - easy to make, delicious, and at least relatively simple to clean.

Today's selection, jalapeno poppers!!  Mmmmmm..... so yum.  And ridiculously easy and versatile!

Needed for deliciousness - Fresh jalapenos (~2 inches long, however many you want), bacon, cream cheese and any mix-ins (I use cheddar cheese), mixing bowl and storage bowl.

I start by mixing up the filling.  Again, in my case, cream and cheddar cheeses.  This can go pretty much anywhere though.  Generally good to keep relatively savory, though, sweet is dangerous.

Cold cream cheese doesn't work for electric mixing.  Go by hand.

Poke poke.  yum!

The first major prep step for the peppers is the basic cutting.  I tend to go with removing the top followed by lengthwise bisecting.  Easy peasy.  You can do this numerous ways, though, including leaving them whole.

Boom!  Sliced!

Here's a bit of a divergence - what to do with the seeds and membranes (aka the capsaicin).  I put the seeds and membranes into a separate bowl.  These can be used to make the stuffing spicier, saved for later soups/marinades/etc, or just tossed out.  The seeds are easy enough to remove.  The membrane is the slightly shiny coating inside the peppers.  If you use a metal spoon and scrape the inside, there will initially be an almost crunchy sound to the scraping.  Once that's gone, so is the membrane.

I toss the tops, too.  Not really needed.

All done!  Run a quick rinse on the hollowed out pepper halves to make certain the seeds and membranes are all gone.

Ready to stuff and wrap!  Relatively simple but can be tough if you aren't careful.

I'll typically cut the bacon slices in half, it tends to be more than enough to wrap the pepper halves.  Also, thicker bacon = always better.  If needed, use full slices of bacon for larger peppers.

Stuff the peppers, but not overstuffed.  This can be a tough balance to make.  I tend to fill them just to the top of the hollowed out halves..

Mmmmmmmmmm bacon.  I wrap diagonally and put in the toothpick the same way, getting the beginning and end of the bacon piece.  

Toothpicks holding the poppers together serves the bacon.  As they cook, the fat renders off and ordinarily shrinks the bacon (whenever you make bacon you see this).  The shrinking means the poppers won't be covered once they're out of the oven, so the picks keep them wrapped.

All done, time for the oven!  w00t!

400 F, 15-20 min.  Get the bacon crispy as you see fit.  Totally awesome.

Awwwwwwww yea!!!  Time to eat!!!!  Nom nom nom nom nom!!!

Alright, that's it for me, folks!  Go forth and make food!  Then eat it!  Because yum!  See you next time!