Taco Poppers

Normally, when I make jalapeno poppers I make something luscious that includes bacon and cream cheese.   In fact, the next time I make some, I will take photos and post the recipe.   This week however, I was stuck with a bunch of extra cooked ground beef that we would have had for dinner Thursday if we hadn't gotten a better offer with friends. 

If you haven't ever worked with fresh jalapeno peppers, the most important rule is, always wear gloves.  These things are torture and part of the reason half the time during football season, I resort to the premade freezer version, not nearly as good.  Last week I was talking with one of my husband's hunting buddies and he mentioned this amazing group of products..  I quickly ran to Amazon, found them, and ordered them.  (You can find the links to the products I used below).  These simple tools made my life so much easier.   You see, jalapenos emit an oil that gets on your skin and burns.  I am pretty allergic to it, in fact, I have  a hard time just breathing when I am working with these little suckers. 

This little cleaning tool came with the King Cooker.  I love this thing.  Think of it as a potato peeler for poppers.  It has a sharp edge that cleans out all those nasty little seeds quick.  It took me about three peppers to really get the hang of it and then it was on.  I started by cutting off the tops then cleaning out the peppers. Easy, peasy.

Next I created the stuffing.  In this case, I used the ground meat, cream cheese, sharp cheddar, onion flakes, and taco seasoning.  It was delicious and because I wasn't stuffing two halves of peppers, I had a ton left over so there was poppers twice this weekend.  My husband loved me so much this weekend.

The second item I ordered was this little popper stuffer.  It wasn't necessary but it was amazing.  I was able to push that cheese concoction all the way down without being covered in cream cheese goo.  

Finally, I decided instead of the Italian bread crumbs or tricked up almond flour (recent change due to me gluten sensitivity)  I used ground up corn chips.  This gave the poppers an amazing little corn taste that I loved!

Once I sprinkled them with the chips, I added some more sharp cheddar and they were ready for the oven.   I popped them in a 350 degree oven for about an hour.   We like our peppers soft.  Fair warning here, the smaller peppers will fall through the bottom of the cooker and they also tend to be much hotter.  The best bet when using this handy little holder is to choose peppers that are as straight as possible and medium-large in size.  Don't pick the really fat peppers, you can get them in the pan but they aren't as stable. 

Recipe:

Up to 34 jalapeno peppers, cleaned, top and seeds removed.
1 1/2 packages low fat cream cheese room temperature
1 cup sharp cheddar
1 cup cooked and cooled ground beef
Taco seasoning of your choice to taste (we buy in bulk and I used about 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
Topping:
Cheddar cheese to garnish
Handful of crushed tortilla chips.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.   Clean, remove tops and seeds from all peppers.  Rinse in water and turn upside down on paper towels to drain.

In a bowl combine cooled ground beef, soft cream cheese, sharp cheddar, dried onions and taco seasoning.  Set aside. 
Grind the corn chips in your blender.

Pipe the cream cheese mixture into each pepper and place on your cooker wrack.  Once all peppers are filled, top with ground chips and extra cheddar. 
Place in 350 degree oven for about 1 hour or until peppers are soft.
Let cool for about 5 minutes and enjoy!

.Disclosure:

If you buy these from me I get my husband off my back for shopping so much at Amazon because I can tell him I got credit from you lovely people.  Not enough because I shop way too much but that really isn't the point, now is it?

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Thank you for reading and as always,
Enjoy the ride!

Laura