Grilled Stuffed Jalapenos

* Photo and recipe from Myrecipes.com

I didn't get my own photo of these because we made them while on vacation, visiting family in Iowa, but I definitely had to add them here because they were so good! We were looking for an appetizer for a BBQ night, and these fit in perfectly and everyone enjoyed them - they definitely didn't last! These are for sure going to be on future BBQ menus.

A lot of the grilled pepper recipes I find calls for wrapping them in bacon, which always sounds delish but in the end it always seems like the bacon cooks unevenly that way. So one of the main things I liked about these was that you get great bacon flavor (in the filling) but in a much messy and more enjoyable way.

My only complaint is that some of the jalapenos weren't hot at all, but there were a couple that set my mouth on fire, and you can never tell how how spicy they are going to be...so watch out for that!

Ingredients

2 slices center-cut bacon
8 oz. reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup minced green onions
1 tsp. fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 small garlic clove, minced
14 jalapeño peppers, halved lengthwise and seeded
Cooking spray
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro*
2 Tbsp. chopped seeded tomato*

*We just topped with some homemade salsa we had already prepped

Directions

1. Preheat grill to medium-high heat.

2. Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, and drain on paper towels. Crumble bacon. Combine crumbled bacon, cheeses, and next 4 ingredients (through garlic) in a bowl, stirring to combine. Divide cheese evenly and fill the pepper halves.

3. Place peppers, cheese side up, on grill rack or grill grate coated with cooking spray. Cover and grill peppers 8 minutes or until bottoms of peppers are charred and cheese mixture is lightly browned. Place the peppers on a serving platter. Sprinkle with cilantro and tomato.