A Valentine's Day Surprise

Kylie's Spicy Love

A few months ago I met a young girl at a newly formed Writer's Club for our parish. Near the end of our first meeting, Kylie, my new friend, handed me a piece of paper. I unfolded it to read what she had written. She sat across the table from me during the meeting concentrating on something I thought was probably unrelated to our group discussion. Boy was I wrong. She had really been listening to my description of The Red Plate and the note she handed me was a recipe. How wonderful is that? The name of her recipe was "Spicy Love", a catchy little title for a peppery bite. A wonderfully zesty nibble with the green freshness and heat of a jalapeño pepper and the creaminess of blended cheeses. Plus this appetizer has an unexpected ingredient and it's wrapped in bacon. Oh my!


Yesterday evening after I finally unlocked my back door to breathe a sigh of relief at being home, I decided Valentine's Day would be the perfect day to surprise The Horn Player with a delicious little nosh. This hot pepper explosion, totally appropriate. And the title of Kylie's recipe surely fit the love themed holiday.

Jalapeño Pepper

Kylie didn't offer any ingredient amounts and truthfully you don't need any, because it's all a matter of how many folks you're treating with this hors d'oeuvre. Here's what I did.

4 Jalapeños

4 ounces creme cheese

1/2 (heaping) cup grated cheddar cheese

1/2 (heaping) cup pan sausage

4 slices bacon

Peppers gettin' the business

I split the peppers and cleaned the inside by removing the seeds and seams. I rinsed them in cool water and turned them cut side down on a towel to drain while I prepared the remaining ingredients.

In a small skillet I cooked the sausage and crumbled with a fork during the cooking. I didn't brown the sausage, just simply cooked it until done. 

Note: I used the homemade sausage from the meat counter found at our local grocery store, Mac's Supermarket. It's so much better than any other, but you may choose whatever you like.

In a small mixing bowl, I allowed the creme cheese to come to room temp. I added the cooked pan sausage and mixed the two ingredients well. Lastly, I sprinkled the grated cheddar over and stirred to incorporate well.

Stirrin' up some love

Oooo, they're stuffed

With a small spatula or butter knife (that's what I used) I spread the cheese/sausage mixture into each of the peppers and wrapped them in bacon securing with a tooth pick.

Note: I cut each bacon slice in half. That was quite enough for each pepper.

I baked them in a 350 degree oven until the bacon was done. Ta da! Kylie's Spicy Love.

Just out of the oven

The evening with Kylie and the Writer's Club attendee's was inspiring, the best part was meeting this gorgeous young lady with a recipe to offer. These were super easy and The Horn Player did indeed like his surprise of Spicy Love. Tsk tsk!