Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Cheese Poppers

This past weekend was our first camping trip of the season and I really wanted to be sure that we had healthy options to snack on.  A big change from years past when camping meant a free pass to eat anything and everything “Campy”…It's not easy to find healthy options that are still fun, and don't make you feel like you're eating rabbit food.  Who wants to sitting around the fire snacking on carrot sticks?

A few weeks ago, I had attended a picnic and these little bits of goodness were served.  I have no idea if this is how the guest who brought them actually made them, but this is what I came up with and they were surprisingly low calorie for something wrapped in BACON!  Yippee!

And there are only three ingredients!  Certainly, this is my kind of appetizer.  I made these ahead of time and warmed them up at the campground and they were a huge hit!

Ingredients:

8 fresh jalapeno peppers

1 container (8 wedges) Laughing Cow Light Cheese Wedges (I used Garlic & Herb)

12 slices of bacon (try to use the original cut vs. thick cut…it wraps better, and you save calories)

Preparation:

Preheat your grill to medium heat.

Wash the jalapenos.

Slice the jalapenos lengthwise then de-seed and de-vein them – don’t worry about the stem, if they remain, that’s fine.  They look really cute that way, too!

Using a butter knife, fill the jalapeno halves with the cheese wedges.  I found that I could use almost one wedge for two halves.  I think I ended up with one wedge leftover and I just used it to fill any peppers that needed it.

Finally, wrap the bacon around the jalapenos.  Note:  I had thick sliced bacon on-hand and I attempted to use only 1/2 a slice per pepper to keep calories down.  However, I found that when they grilled, the bacon shrunk a little so I had trouble keeping it on.  With regular sliced bacon, you can use a whole slice, it wraps tighter and has better staying power during grilling.  You can also secure the bacon in place with toothpicks (soak in water to keep from burning).

Place the peppers directly onto the grill and cook for about 4 minutes (until the bacon becomes crispy), then flip to finish up on the other side.

Remove from the grill and serve immediately, or like me, reheat them later and they are just as delicious!

Serves 8 (two halves for each serving)

Nutrition:

Calories 109 / Carbs 2g / Fat 8g / Protein 6g / Fiber 0g / Sodium 500mg