Uncle Rick's Jalapeno Poppers

Make no mistake; these are not the deep-fried, Cheez Whiz-filled poppers you find on the menu of Ruby Tuesday's or other chain restaurants. No... ours are a more sophisticated variety of popper, sumptiously stuffed with cream cheese and swaddled in bacon. They will knock you out! Also: don't be fooled by the short list of ingredients. There is some serious prepwork involved here. We salute Uncle Rick for always having time to make poppers for the family.

Ingredients:

12-15 jalapeno peppers

1 package of cream cheese

1 package of bacon

Utensils:

Large rack pan, the kind that you roast meat on where the fat can collect in a reservoir beneath

Pairing knife

Medium size saucepan, for soaking jalapenos in cold water

Small spoon

Instructions:

Start by soaking the jalapenos in cold water for a while. Remove them one by one from the water, pat dry and use the pairing knife to slice down the middle, longways, and then scoop out the seeds. Make sure you scrape away the white "membranes" as well - these, and the seeds, are what give jalapenos their heat. You can rinse off your sliced jalapenos for a second time if you're worried about people burning their mouths. But this is really unlikely to happen if you do a good job of guts-removal.

Warning: AVOID TOUCHING YOUR EYES while working with jalapenos! After a little while, you'll start to feel your fingers heating up... it's definitely a strange yet cool (read: hot) sensation. I really have no remedy for this, other than running your hands under cold water and waiting it out. The hotness eventually goes away.

(Now is a good time to preheat the oven to 350.)

After all jalapeno prep is complete, it's time to assemble your poppers. Get out the cream cheese and your trusty spoon. Scoop a bit of the cream cheese into half of a jalapeno. Wrap in a bacon slice (you may want to cut your bacon slices in half if you don't think you have enough for at least 12 poppers). Place the popper on the metal pan and repeat the process with the rest of the ingredients.

Bake until the cream cheese melts and the bacon browns. Serve plain or with grape jelly. These are soooo good.

Submitted by:

Dina Giolitto
http://wordfeeder.com

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