When I was in college, I had a co-worker who ate Burger King jalapeño poppers for lunch almost every day. I thought she was bananas. I mean, they were good, in a fast-foody kind of way. But every day? For her entire lunch? She was obsessed! Ever since, whenever I see or eat jalapeño poppers, I think of popper-crazy Lily and it makes me happy.

What I have to share with you today is waaaaaaaaayyyyyy better than the Burger King jalapeño poppers. And, in addition to being incredibly delicious, these poppers are beyond easy to make. The “recipe” comes from my mother-in-law Pat, the source of so many of my favorite easy and delicious recipes.

I made these poppers with Pat over the summer when the family was all together on Cape Cod. I didn’t get a chance to photograph them very much because there were about 8 people standing around the pan while I shot a few photos. They were like vultures! Okay, so I was one of the vultures who couldn’t wait to get the camera out of the way and dig in!

If you have latex gloves lying around, wear them when you make these. Pat and I never do, much to our detriment. I rubbed my eyes TWICE within 24 hours of making the poppers and just about blew my eyeball out of the socket. If you don’t wear gloves, just be smarter than me and keep your hands aways from your eyes for about 1 day.

Easy Homemade Jalapeño Poppers

 

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Author: Jane Maynard

Ingredients

• About 20 jalapeño peppers
• 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• Fresh, shredded parmesan cheese (if you don’t have any, don’t worry about it!)
• A handful or so of chopped chives or green onions (again, if you don’t have this, don’t worry about it)
• About 20 strips uncooked bacon, cut in half
• Vegetarian version: bread crumbs, plain or mixed with a bit of parmesan cheese plus a dash of salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 – 400 degrees F.
2. Cut jalapeño peppers in half the long way. Clean out the seeds and membrane (if you have latex gloves, this is the time to wear them!).
3. If you are adding parmesan cheese and chives/green onions, mix them with the softened cream cheese. Fill each cut jalapeño pepper with cream cheese, filling them to the top but not overfilling too much so that the cheese doesn’t melt all over the pan. Wrap each stuffed pepper with a piece of uncooked bacon. Place on a large cookie sheet. You don’t need to space them apart too much, so go ahead and pack them in.
4. If you want to make the vegetarian version, stuff the pepper with the cheese then roll the stuffed pepper in the breadcrumbs, sprinkling a bit of extra breadcrumbs on top and pressing into the cheese gently.
5. Bake until bacon is cooked. The longer you cook the poppers, the less hot the peppers will be, so if you want them less spicy, cook on the lower end of the temperature range for a longer time. Total cook time will probably be about 20 – 30 minutes.
6. This recipe is easy going and can be modified to your tastes – feel free to experiment!

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For Easter we had asparagus as one of our side dishes. Lindsay sent me this link to a roasted asparagus recipe. I gave it a try and it was great, so time to share it with you! This method is easy and yummy and is less oily than when you cook asparagus on the stovetop. Thanks for the link, Lindsay!

Easy Roasted Asparagus

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

25 mins

 

Written instructions from this YouTube video

Ingredients

• asparagus
• olive oil
• salt & pepper or your favorite seasoned salt

Instructions

1. Spread your asparagus on a cookie sheet – a big enough tray that they aren’t crowded and touching too much.
2. Drizzle olive oil, salt & pepper (or your favorite seasoned salt)
3. Toss the asparagus with your hands to evenly coat.
4. Roast in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes (although, my asparagus were very skinny, so I only did 10 minutes”¦I don’t like overdone asparagus)

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