Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Jalapeños

I sent this out a while back, but I have tweaked it and updated it to make it a bit easier to follow along.

INGREDIENTS

• 12 jalapeños

• 24 stripes of bacon

• 1 lb breakfast sausage

• 8oz cream cheese, room temp.

• 1/2 cup shredded Colby jack

1. Wear gloves. Preheat a grill, smoker, or oven to 400ºF.

2. Wash the jalapeños under cool water then cut the stem ends off. Cut in half lengthwise and scrape out the interior seeds and veins. Set aside.

3. In a skillet, break up and brown the breakfast sausage until cooked through. Drain the grease. Place back in the skillet and add the cream cheese. Mix until thoroughly melted into and blended with the sausage. Add the Colby jack cheese and stir to incorporate.

4. Using a table spoon or soup spoon, scoop the sausage mixture into each pepper half. Starting at the thick end of the pepper, tightly wrap each pepper half with a full strip making sure to overlap the edges of the bacon.

5. Place on your smoker or grill or in the oven. If in the oven, put on cooling rack over a rimmed pan to catch the drippings.

6. Cook until the bacon is crisp, which should take about 45 minutes.

NOTES:

You want to remove the insides of the peppers under cold running water or you risk getting choked up. You really want to wear gloves while handling the peppers. I say that as someone who did not the first time. My hands burned for over a day despite copious washing.

Wrap the bacon tightly or it will shrink and fall off the peppers. If you wrap tightly, you won't need to secure with toothpicks. Small peppers might get by with a piece of bacon cut in half.