Are you ready for some football...

...FOOD???

Come July I am so ready for NFL games I can hardly stand it (Go Skins)!

***Side Bar: I am not sure how we will get football this fall.  We do not have cable and only get fuzz on our TV. We have been known to watch Monday Night Football on ESPN.com, which has cartoon'd graph of the football field on the computer.  We would refresh every few moments to see and watch the X's & O's move up and down the 'field.' Better yet is when ESPN highlights a 30 second clip of a   a play that had occured moments before!  Yes, we are that desperate about our football. ***

 OK, where were we??  Ah yes, back to football food and ready for football.  My sweet friend gave me a bag full of her jalapenos from her garden.  We started discussing what she likes to do make with them.  I mentioned guacamole, and she said a cream cheese filled jalapeno.

Ah yes, my mind drifted: an autumn breeze, chill in the air, and Joe Buck's lovely football voice playing the background. My mind immediately remembered my dear sis-n-law's recipe of jalapeno poppers!  I knew what I was going home to make. Thank-you Katie, for your simple and delicious food.

Let me also preface this with Katie does not give measurements, all by taste your greatest sense while cooking. I just threw it all together, and tasted as I went.  I usually like my salt, but I knew the bacon would be salty so I help back a little there.  I would strongly suggest the same!

OK enough talking here are the ingredients:
Fresh Jalapenos
Cream Cheese (approx 1/2 cup)
lemon juice
1 large clove of garlic, pressed
salt and pepper
Bacon, uncooked

Instructions:

Keep stem of jalapeno on, and cut the in half length wise. Take a small spoon, and carve out the inside seeds and membranes (that's where the REAL hot stuff, so if you like it hot could use some seeds in cream cheese mixture).

In a small bowl mix together, cream cheese, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper.  Taste and adjust accordingly.

Spoon mixture into each half jalapeno, and wrap 1/2 a slice of bacon around stuffed jalapeno.

A cookie sheet with a lip is STRONGLY suggested!  Otherwise the fat from the bacon will run over and get all over your oven!

Cook on 350 until bacon is nice and crispy, and it make a cackle sound.  If you take them out too early they bacon will be soft rubbery and jalapenos still crunchy.  You want that switched - bacon crispy & jalapenos soft! Mine took about 35 min and they were PERFECT!

You should also know per Katie, these freeze nicely.  I only cooked half of mine and put the rest in a freeze zip lock ready for September & football!!

With my favorite summer time beer it was a PERFECT FRIDAY NIGHT TREAT!!

 OH YES, All my senses were being prepped for football season to come!!

These photos are RAW and unedited!  Wow, what a lazy blogger I am!  No excuse other than I just wanted to get this post up.  I will do better next time!

Lunchables

I am funny about my food.  I am particular on what I feed my family, and what I put into my body.

A few funnies - I don't buy anything with high fructose corn syrup.  I also do not buy anything with MSG. I like to know where my food comes from, particularly meat.  I also am a label reader.  If I don't know what it is in the ingredients list I probably will not buy it.

Now I am not absolute when it comes to these said funny things, for example, when I go to someone's house who is serving me dinner never will I ever turn down the food.  To me building relationships is way more important then food will EVER be. So I would not want to offend my host. Moreover, if someone happens to leave a soda in my fridge (thank-you Amy Franks) I will most likely drink it ;)  And if there is a chance to try a turkey leg at our local amusement park I will most likely eat it! AND ALL MY standards go out the window for any delicious looking dessert!! Ha!

All this to say that even tho I do not purchase packaged meals, it doesn't mean we can't have fun with our food.  Here is a lunch I served the other day,  our version of our homemade Lunchables. Because the Oscar Meyer ones are terrible for you, see why here!!

adult version

I would also like to mention I grew up eating the worst food possible, fried EVERYTHING, and canned vegetables.  And if it wasn't fried it came from a box or bag: hamburger helper, Doritos, and stove top stuffing!  As I grew and was educated through my husband's family (baking their own bread for a lifetime) and also through health classes, and just by reading on my own I began to make changes.

Have I mentioned I love Trader Joe's??  I do 80% of my shopping there & the other 20% at Costco. If you have a TJ's near you and never have been, go! I trust most everything in that store bc I can actually read and understand the labels!!

So all in all, don't make things out of boxes they are loaded with MSG.  Make sure you can read ALL the ingredients and you know what they mean.  The closer it comes from God's creation the best it is for you!!  OK, stepping off my soap box now!