The thing about dieting is...

Gosh being on a diet stinks.  Some people are just naturally healthy eaters.  I do not fall in this category.  So, from time to time I just can't take it anymore and I have to have a cheat day.  This weekend was one of those days that not only did I fall off the wagon but I bumped my head too.  Today it's back to the task of dieting.  And now the last thing I want to do is think about my dietary sins.  But I must confess.  I had Lay's Sour Cream and Onion Potato Chips (15, I counted).  I had a chicken sandwich that had BREAD on it.  (I picked most of it off) and I had nachos.  But the nachos were disappointing.  They didn't use real cheese they used a cheese dip kind of thing and by the 3rd chip you couldn't even pick them up anymore because they were soggy.  So I didn't have much of that.  Then yesterday I intended to eat a breakfast burrito and when I got it out to eat I discovered it was the saddest breakfast burrito that ever was.  It was old and hard and tiny.  I gave it to Coco and Mazie.    Divine intervention??  Could be!!

But here's a snack food that I can completely justify.  It is technically low carb.
Jalepeno poppers!  It is good and good for you.  I even love them left over.  And I was thrilled to discover that you can make extra and freeze them.  Just make sure they're sealed tightly.

There are lots of ways to make these little guys.  But my favorite way is to cut them in half and fill them up, then bacon wrap them, and bake them in the oven.  About half way through you can brush some barbeque sauce on them and it makes all things right in the world.   

One thing I'm very particular about is bacon that is not cooked until it's crisp.  I hate it when you bite the bacon and it's stringy and half of it comes unravelled.  So I like to find bacon that is pretty thin so that it will crisp up nicely.  My apologies to the folks at Hormel.  But their center cut bacon is so thin you can read a paper through it.  It works GREAT for these poppers.  I wouldn't fry a bunch of it up for breakfast though.  

Another favorite way of cooking them is to cook your bacon ahead of time then crumble it up and put it in the cheese mix.    Then you don't have to worry about wrapping them or the bacon being crisp enough.  

Here's what I use:

about 20 jalepenos.  I try to be selective and get fresh, firm peppers that aren't too skinny.  

1 block of Philadelphia Cream cheese

about 2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese

about half a cup of barbeque sauce

bacon (depending on which way you want to have it you can fry it ahead of time or not)

I don't bother with toothpicks anymore.  The bacon will stay put. 

Be sure to use gloves.  I use latex gloves so that the juice won't burn my hands. 

I leave the stems on the peppers and cut the pepper in half length-wise.  I cut all of mine at once and put the cut peppers in ice water while I work on seeding them at the sink.  I remove as much of the seeds and the white membrane.  This is what makes them hot, so the more you leave behind the hotter they will be. 

After I get them all cleaned up I lay them out on a paper towel and let them dry as I start stuffing. 

You can freeze the stuffed peppers if you want and then you'll have a quick snack for another day.  This requires will power.  I want them all immediately.

Bake them on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes to an hour.  Remember to brush on your barbeque sauce about half way through. 

This was a batch for Joe and myself.

Notice I don't have any pictures of the cooked poppers.  hmmm... why could that be? 

Here's another way to cook them.  You see these pepper holders everywhere now.

You cut the end of the peppers off and clean them out (harder to get all of the membrane so they have a little more heat to them.)  Then after you stuff them just put a small piece of bacon over the top and secure with a toothpick.  Cook on the grill.  I love my armadillo.  He came from Fred's Music and Barbeque Supply in Texas.  :)  They have a website full of good stuff.  You should check them out!

I am starving to death now.  Better go eat a few almonds before I cave and eat something bad.  

Have a blessed day!!  

Life is good!!!

:D