popper grilled cheese
i missed out on a lot of awesome food growing up, due to my excessive pickyness. food was too spicy, too meaty, too sour, yadda yadda yadda. i think i could have lived on mac and cheese, chicken patties from the freezer and ice cream. i’m so glad that i’ve expanded my food horizons so i can try new things! this is another pinterest find, i believe and it will definitely be making an appearance on our weekly menu sometime soon. it goes well with salad or a bowl of brothy soup.
this dish combines my favorite food, cheese, with jalapeño poppers. it all goes together with tasty fashion in a grilled sandwich. once the peppers have been roasted, you can throw it all together pretty easily on a week night. make sure to have a pair of disposable cooking gloves on hand, as the jalapeño juice can burn your skin and eyes!
source: simplyscratch
- 4 jalapeño peppers
- 3-4 oz neufchatel cheese (or cream cheese, i prefer less fat)
- 4 green onions, minced
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- black pepper, to taste
- 2-4 slices of cheese (i used cheddar, but co-jack, pepper jack or white cheddar could be good!)
- 4 slices of sourdough bread, or whatever is looking tasty at the bakery
- margarine (or butter)
- under your oven broiler, broil the jalapeños until their skin is charred. you can also char the skin on a grill, which i might try next time. for double duty purposes, you could grill dinner the night before and throw the peppers on the grill, too. my peppers weren’t quite charred all the way, but yours should look something like this:
- place the peppers in a sandwich baggie, to steam for about 10 minutes.
- slice the tops off the peppers, and then slice down one side and remove the seeds and ribs of the pepper. leave a few seeds if you want some extra heat!
- pre-heat your pan to a medium-low heat. in a small bowl, combine cream cheese, minced green onion, garlic powder and black pepper.
- butter outer slices of bread and sandwich together, with butter facing the inside. lay a slice of cheese on the bread and then place the peppers on top of the cheese. if desired, add an extra slice of cheese on top of the peppers. i’m a cheese lover, and didn’t really think it was all that necessary.
- place the cheese/pepper half of the sandwich on the pan. spread cream cheese on the inside of the top slice and place it, butter side up, on the other half of the sandwich. press down on the sandwich with your flipper (how’s that for fancy kitchen terminology?) to make sure that the cream cheese half adheres to the peppers and cheese.
- grill both sides until they are golden and crispy.