Ozark Farms Campground & RV Park RESERVATIONS: (800)826-1995
Last week, my daughter asked for us to go camping over Christmas break from school. Now, if you know Ava, you know she has a love/hate relationship with camping. Love the camping, hate the bugs.
One of her very FAVORITE things about camping is campfire cooking! A great campground will have a nice picnic table and fire pit on the campsite that makes it easy to bring food from your camper out and cook!
One of our absolute favorite things to cook is bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers. They cook so nicely especially if the campground or RV park has a level grate that you can set your cast iron skillet directly on. Some recipes just require a lot of heat!
Here's what you'll need:
fresh jalapenos (figure 1-2 whole jalapenos per person)
1 block of cream cheese for every 7 jalalpenos
1 package of bacon (you'll need 1-2 strips per jalapeno, depending on the size of the jalapenos. The more bacon, the better)
wood toothpicks (do not get any with plastic on them. They'll melt and then you'll cry because eating melted plastic no bueno)
plastic gloves I get the disposable kind because jalapeno oil is really hard to remove and the absolute last thing you want is jalapeno in your eye. Or your kid's eye.
water to wash the jalapenos
Cast iron skillet or cooking grate
1. Alrighty, so first you need to slice the jalapenos in half long ways from the stem to the end. KEEP BOTH HALVES TOGETHER. If you mix & match halves, the sour cream will leak out during cooking... and sadness will follow.
2. Next, clean the jalapenos by scraping out all the seeds and rinsing both halves well under cold water. Put jalapeno back together and set aside. Repeat steps 1 & 2 until all jalapenos are halved and washed.
3. With a butter knife, slice off some cream cheese and fill each jalapeno half. Keep halves together and set aside.
4. Wrap each stuffed jalapeno in bacon, starting at stem end and working your way toward the bottom. Put a wooden toothpick completely through the jalapeno to hold each end of the bacon strip on.
5. Put your cast iron skillet on the fire. It will get hot pretty fast. If you toss a few drops of water on there, the water should bubble and sizzle for a moment before evaporating. If it instantly evaporates with no bubbles, move the skillet to a little more indirect heat on your camp grill. This is equivalent to medium high heat on your stove top.
6. Cook jalapeno poppers until bacon is brown and crispy.
7. Enjoy! Make sure to have plenty to drink handy. This is a nice salty dish and it's so tasty you may eat a couple before you realize you need a drink!
See you at the campground!
xo
Michele
Ozark Farms Campground & RV Park RESERVATIONS: (800)826-1995