Kat in the Kitchen: Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Jalapeños

Does anyone else ever make appetizers for dinner? I don't mean being all fancy schmancy and making appetizers + a main dish + salad + bread and cheese + dessert + coffee as my host family in France used to do (for the record - they were/are the best host family in all the world - how many host families travel to South Bend, IN to see your host daughter get married? The best). Anyway, I mean appetizers as your main dish. I am guilty of that, and ever since I started making bacon-wrapped jalapeños, I am very, very guilty of that. 

It all started when we were at our friends' 4th of July party this summer, and our friend stuffed some cream cheese in jalapeños and wrapped some bacon around them - three of Chris' favorite things. And since I get a crazy amount of joy from my husband loving my cooking, I decided to replicate the recipe with goat cheese. When I cook a batch, I make half of mine with regular bacon and half with turkey bacon because we have two different bacon preferences - and those preferences are the opposite of what is stereotypical. Give me that real bacon! 

Here is my take:

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Jalapeños
12 jalapeños, tops cut off, halved and seeded (I'll leave some seeds in for Chris' half of the batch)
6 to 8 oz goat cheese, at room temperature (you can make them with the goat cheese straight out of the fridge, but it is not as messy if the cheese is softened).
24 leaves of basil
12 pieces of bacon, sliced in half or 18-24 pieces of turkey bacon depending on how thick the jalapeños are (the real bacon has more give and stretch so it takes less to wrap it around)

1) Turn your oven on to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cookie sheet with foil. 
2) Take the jalapeños cut the tops off. Then cut them in half and take the membranes and seeds out. (I'll leave some seeds in for Chris' half of the batch).
3) Stuff the jalapeños with a heaping teaspoon of goat cheese.
4) Place a basil leaf on top of the goat cheese.
5) Wrap the stuffed jalapeño with bacon. Make sure you put the loose end of the bacon on the bottom so the bacon stays. You could use less bacon and toothpicks to keep the short bacon pieces on, but that would mean ... less bacon.

6) Bake for 25-30 minutes under bacon is crispy and jalapeños are tender. (25 minutes will get you a slightly crisp, still vivid green like the jalapeños in the right of the photo; 30 minutes will give you very tender jalapeños that's a duller green)

And enjoy!

So tell me - what are your favorite appetizers to eat as dinner? Anyone else ever think, "I'm an adult! I am eat pizza rolls as dinner if want!" Because tht is so what adulthood means, right? And don't get me started on bread and cheese!