Jalapeño Poppers

Whenever my girlfriends and I decide to have a get together, two things happen.  #1 is we all assume we're having it at Alyssa and David's place, and #2 we ALWAYS make sure Jalapeño Poppers are invited to the party.  In fact, these babies normally don't even make it onto the serving plate.  Usually when that heavenly aroma rising out of the oven can be detected in the family room, we distract the guys by turning on their 60" Sony Bravia to a game and stealthily make our way into the kitchen to "grab more wine".  When it comes to these bite-sized, melt in your mouth, easy to make treats, there is no sharing and no asking, "...are you sure you don't want the last one?"  Literally, it's a clear case of every man for them self!  I've talked these bad boys up so much that it's only fair that I share them with you.  So here is the recipe:)  Enjoy!

Jalapeño Poppers

Cooking Gear:
9x13 casserole dish or Baking Sheets
Paring knife
3-4 Bamboo BBQ Skewers
small mixing bowl
GLOVES!

Ingredients:
12 Jalapeño Peppers (at least 4 inches in length each)
8 oz Cream Cheese
1 pkg Ranch Dressing Mix (powder)
1 pkg Bacon
GLOVES!....or 1/2 a Lemon....trust me.

Directions:
Step 1)  PUT ON YOUR GLOVES....also empty cream cheese from it's wrapping into the small mixing bowl.  Put aside for the time being to soften.
Step 2)  Cut the stem off of each pepper, as well as making a slit down one side of the pepper so that you
open it up like a book.  Carefully de vain and remove all the seeds from each pepper.  Then cut them in half across the width to make them about 1-2 inches in length.  Rinse them under cold water and set aside.

Step 3)  Combine the dry Ranch dressing packet into the softened cream cheese, making sure that you thoroughly mix both together.  **if you want to kick the heat up into these babies, mix half of the seeds extracted from one of your peppers into this ranch cream cheese.

Step 4)  Stuff each halved pepper with the cream cheese filling a spoonful at a time.  Be careful to not over stuff them.  Don't worry, you can always use the left over cream cheese on tomorrow's breakfast bagel!  

Step 5)  Wrap each pepper with a strip of bacon and use the bamboo skewer to hold everything together.

Step 6)  Bake in the oven at 400˚F for 20-25 minutes.  Or until you can smell them in the other room and the bacon is sizzlin'! 

Final Step)  Grab them out of the oven and be prepared to make it like a running back!