Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Jalapenos

We generally have very little luck growing peppers of any kind in our garden. So when the lone jalapeno plant that we very apprehensively planted this year sprouted these beautiful spicy babies, we felt they were worthy of something special.
 Add some lovely Mark’s Almost Famous Bacon,

(can't seem to find a website to link to, but we sell it at Goodness Me!)

 and some cheese, and you have an awesome appetizer, guaranteed to please! I used a lovely Gouda that paired nicely with the flavour of the thyme and smoked sea salt. (If you don’t have smoked sea salt, substitute with a nice Celtic or Himalayan sea salt.) The red peppers are actually just ripe jalapenos. When they ripen and turn red they have a slightly sweeter and hotter piquancy to them. Green or red, whatever colour you happen to have, this recipe is tasty and so darned easy, you have to make them!! I highly recommend wearing gloves when you take the ribs and seeds out of the peppers, my thumbs are still tingling as I type out this recipe, and I really was being ever so careful to limit my exposure to their heat.

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Jalapenos

I had two very large and two
fairly small Jalapeno's, this
amount of filling should fill 4
average sized jalapenos
very nicely.

4 Jalapeno peppers

8 slices of nitrate free bacon

2/3 cup cream cheese

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ tsp dried thyme (rubbed between your palms to crush well)

½ cup grated Gouda cheese (Mine was a very generous ½ cup!)

Smoked Sea Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375F.

Wearing gloves, cut the jalapenos in half lengthwise, and remove the ribs and seeds and discard. Set peppers aside.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, mix the cream cheese, garlic, thyme, Gouda, salt and pepper together until well incorporated.

Divide filling evenly between the pepper halves, and wrap each with a strip of bacon, securing with a toothpick.

Place in an oven safe dish and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the bacon is fully cooked and just beginning to crisp up. The cheese should be softened and starting to bubble.

Remove from oven and cool slightly before serving. Best eaten while still warm J

We served them with prime rib steak,
pan fried portabello mushrooms,
freshly picked Swiss chard and
pan fried potato slices...heaven!!