Jalapeño Poppers with Bacon

This take on jalapeno poppers eliminates the breading and deep frying, making them gluten free and low carb, as well as extremely easy to make. These are so delicious, I'd make them even if they weren't simple to put together. 

You only need three ingredients: jalapeno peppers, cream cheese, and bacon. Bacon makes everything better, right?


As soon as I saw these jalapeno peppers at our local farmers' market, I knew poppers were in my future. 

Cut the peppers in half length-wise. 

Using a spoon, scoop out the seeds and membrane. If you like spicy food, leave in a couple seeds. 

For the first time in my life, when handling hot peppers, I erred on the side of caution and wore latex gloves. I simply cleaned out the peppers with my fingers. I seriously recommend the gloves if you don't want burning fingers for the next 24 hours. 

I didn't leave any seeds - I'm a wimp!




Chop or crumble the cooked bacon into small chunks. 

I decided to mix the cream cheese and bacon pieces together in a bowl before filling the peppers. 

Fill each pepper with the cream cheese/bacon mixture. 

I had a little extra bacon. I never consider extra bacon a problem. Sprinkle any leftover bacon on top of each pepper (or is it now considered a 'popper'?).

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. 

For the two of us, I used:

• jalapenos - 6 whole peppers = 12 poppers
• cream cheese - about 1/3 of an 8 ounce package
• bacon - 3 pieces

The great thing about this recipe is it's easy to make as many or as few as you want. The difficult part is trying to stop eating them!  

Oopsie Rolls

Oopsie rolls are something of a new discovery for me. My husband is already living a gluten free lifestyle (diet sounds too temporary) due to allergies and he is currently trying an ultra-low carb eating plan. For me and my love of baking, this has been a challenge. On the other hand, I get to eat all the gluten laced, carb loaded treats I make. Maybe this isn't so bad after all. Except for my expanding waistline. 

As much as I love baking traditional pastries, I am always open to trying new recipes. I also hate to see anyone deprived of bread and rolls and all that pastry goodness. 

While they're certainly no substitute for traditional rolls or bread, these rolls contain no flour, making them perfect if you're on a gluten free or low carb diet.  They do have a slight "eggy" taste but, they don't taste like you're eating an omelette. Trust me, I would tell you.  

They also happen to be pretty easy to make and you only need three ingredients for the basic rolls (see ideas for tweaking the recipe below). 

Ingredients:

• cream cheese - 3 ounces
• eggs - 3 large
• cream of tartar - 1/8 teaspoon (or a dash)

Oven temperature: 300 degrees Fahrenheit

Cooking time: 30-40 minutes

Yield: 6 rolls 

Separate the eggs and add the cream cheese to the egg yolks. A standard package of cream cheese is 8 ounces, so I eyeball what half of the package would be (4 ounces) and then cut off a little less to get 3 ounces. 

Mix the egg yolks and cream cheese until combined. 

In another bowl, beat the egg whites and dash of cream of tartar until they are stiff. Really stiff... as in, you can turn the bowl upside down and they won't move. The cream of tartar helps with this. 

This photo is making me crave whipped cream.. mmm....

Next, fold the egg yolk/cream cheese mixture into the egg whites until just combined. You want to stir as little as possible to keep the air you just worked so hard to create in the egg whites. 

Spoon the mixture onto a cookie sheet that is lined with parchment paper or has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. I started using parchment paper a few years ago and have never looked back. Clean up is easier and I'm lazy. Hey, at least I own it. 

This 3 egg recipe makes 6 rolls. 

Slightly flatten each mound with the back of your spoon.

Bake for 30-40 minutes in a 300 degree oven. When done, carefully remove with a spatula to a wire rack to cool. 

I added about 1/8 teaspoon of dry mustard and a dash of salt to mine for a savory dinner roll. When it comes to tweaking the basic recipe, let your imagination run wild!

• sugar (or sugar substitute) and cinnamon
• chives and cheese
• sugar and cocoa
• use flavored cream cheeses (or even better, make your own!)

Use oopsie rolls for hamburger buns (use 2), for french toast, as a substitute for English muffins, to make paninis, as a cake with whipped cream, etc. The rolls are airy and are more prone to falling apart when used in place of traditional buns, but for someone that needs an alternative to flour bread products, these hit the spot.

This recipe can be easily adapted to make more or less than the 6 rolls that 3 eggs and 3 ounces of cream cheese produce. It's as simple as keeping the egg to cream cheese ratio the same. For more than the 6 rolls, try 4 eggs and 4 ounces of cream cheese.

Enjoy!