Jalapeño Popper Soup

 

We had our first frost earlier this month, coincidentally on the exact same day that we had our first frost last year. It also marked my day of switching from the air conditioning to heating. I have a rule around here that it must get to 59° in the house before I turn on the heat. That morning, it did. Such days call for something warm and spicy, and this soup seemed just the ticket.Jalapeño Popper Soup

1 12-oz. pkg. bacon, chopped

4 Melissa’s pickled jalapeños, seeded and diced*

½ c. chopped onion

2 t. Melissa’s minced garlic

½ c. flour

6 c. chicken stock

1 T. pickled jalapeño juice    

1½ c. whole milk

1½ c. heavy cream

1 1.5 lb. pkg. Melissa’s Baby Dutch Yellow Potatoes, cut into 1” dice

8 oz. cream cheese, softened and cut into pieces

2 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Kosher salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Place bacon into a medium stockpot and cook over medium-high heat until crisp. Add jalapeños and onions, and cook until tender, 3-4 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds.

Sprinkle the flour over all, and stir to incorporate. Continue to cook, stirring for 1-2 minutes. Pour in the chicken stock, milk, and cream.

Add potatoes and bring the soup to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the potatoes are fork-tender, 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove the pot from the heat and add the cream cheese and shredded cheddar, stirring until the cheeses are melted and combined.

Salt, pepper, or Slap Ya Mama, to taste; garnish as desired. 

*If you want a bit more heat, leave the seeds in. I ended up removing the seeds from three, and leaving the seeds in the fourth, and I thought that was the perfect combination.

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Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese

 

There's one thing that you can always count on, and that is having your sweet, innocent, apple-cheeked children revealing your secrets is a delightfully innocent way. When my number one son and granddaughter came to visit me over the weekend, I happened to mention to my son that I had made a jalapeño popper grilled cheese sandwich that I really liked.

 

“Oooooh,” said my granddaughter, “That is dad’s happy place. He looooves jalapeño poppers.” 

 

I had no idea. I will say that when you take one bite of this sandwich, it will be your happy place too. I made this in a bucket-style air fryer, and couldn’t be happier; the silicon liner made clean up a breeze. Unlike when grilling or pan cooking, the bread came out wonderfully toasted without a hint of butter residue to make fingers greasy. If air fryers aren’t your thing, feel free to grill or pan fry. This sandwich is all about the filling.

Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese

Slightly adapted from airfried.com

 4 slices sandwich bread

2 T. butter, room temperature

3 oz. cream cheese, room temperatute

1 T. sour cream

1 c. shredded cheddar

¼ c. diced Melissa’s pickled jalapeños

½ t. garlic powder

 Preheat air fryer to 360°F.  (If yours requires preheating.)

Spread the outside of each slice of bread with butter.

Place cream cheese, sour cream, cheddar, jalapeños, and garlic powder into a small bowl and mix with a fork to combine.

Arrange two slices of bread, buttered side down, and top with the cheese mixture. Place the remaining slices of bread over the top, butter side up.

 Place the sandwiches in your air fryer basket and air fry 5 minutes. Flip the sandwiches over and continue cooking for 4-5 minutes or until bread is golden brown and toasted.

Let set 1 minute before slicing and serving. 

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Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Happy Cinco de Mayo! If you’re looking for a tasty way to celebrate, here are some mouth-watering ways to help you. Click on the name beneath the photo to be taken directly to the recipe.

Mango Margarita

Guacamole Salad

Refried Beans

Beefy Tacos

Homemade Tamales

Mexican Plate

Chile Burritos

Spinach-Mushroom Enchiladas

Homemade Tortilla Chips

Jalapeno Poppers with Mango Chutney Cream Cheese

Margarita Strawberries

Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese

Do you ever find yourself unloading bags of groceries upon returning home from the store, asking yourself, "What was I thinking?". I found myself doing this just the other day, when I unloaded a package containing eight fresh jalapeño peppers. Don't get me wrong, I like jalapeños, I just have absolutely no use for eight of them. Not to worry, I do plan on dicing some and freezing them like I do with green peppers as you saw here, but I also planned on trying some new recipes. While rummaging around on the Internet, I happened to find an enticing recipe on delish.com for a Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese. As someone who loves both jalapeño poppers and grilled cheese sandwiches, this seemed custom-made for me.

 

This easy-to-make sandwich is a delicious combination of the two. Make the cream cheese mixture ahead of time -- the day before if you like (and you might want to double it, just sayin') -- and the sandwich goes together in a flash. I grilled mine using very little butter in my Copper Chef pan and was enormously pleased with the results. As you can see from the picture, even the melted cheese came out of the pan without a problem, and gave the sandwich lots of extra crunch.

Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 jalapeño, finely chopped (seeded if desired)

1 tsp. garlic powder

kosher salt

Finely ground black pepper

4 slices french bread (I used sour dough)

2 c. shredded Cheddar

4 slices cooked bacon, halved

In a large bowl, stir together cream cheese, jalapeño, and garlic powder, and season with salt and pepper.

Butter one side of each slice of bread. On the other side of two slices, spread a thin layer of the cream cheese mixture.

In a large skillet over medium heat, add bread with cream cheese mixture, buttered side down. Top with 1/2 cup cheddar and half the bacon, then top with another 1/2 cup cheddar. Top with remaining slice of bread, buttered side up.

Cook until melty and golden, 4 to 5 minutes, then flip and cook 5 minutes more.

Repeat with second sandwich.

This post is linked to:

Dishing It & Digging It

Cooking & Crafting with J&J

Amaze Me Monday

Busy Mondays

Happiness is Homemade Monday

Inspiration Monday

Art of Homemaking Monday
  Full Plate Thursday

Foodie Friday & Everything Else