A lady brought a version of these to a church potluck last Sunday, and we liked them so well we had to make some at home yesterday.
I sliced 18 jalapeno peppers in half longways, and used the nifty little specialty tool shown to clean out the insides and seeds. My wife fried some mild, crumbled sausage and drained off the grease. In a bowl, she then mixed the cooked sausage with cream cheese and overstuffed the pepper halves with the mixture, heaping it up a bit above the peppers.
We put the jalapeno halves on a foil-covered baking sheet, and I pre-heated our gas BBQ to 375 degrees F. with the lid down. Cooked the peppers on the top rack away from the fire at 375 or so for 20 minutes (the temp crept up to 400 near the end) until the cheese was melted and showed a little browning and the peppers were soft. These poppers were wonderful - really, really good!
These things are so cheap, quick, easy to make, and we like them so well - I'll be doing this again and often. Now I need some help in figuring out good variations on that stuffing. I'd like to have different versions, and mix different kinds on the same tray. I think Monterey Jack cheese might be even better than cream cheese in these, sharp cheddar too, maybe. We don't have to use sausage either - hamburger or bacon bits might be good. I could spice some of them up with basil, thyme, roasted tomato, mushrooms, chives, I dunno. Lots of possibilities, and I'm looking for suggestions here.
btw: It's no wonder ticks and mosquitoes no longer bite me. I eat some hot peppers every day and I think I've become distasteful to the bugs. LOL
