I just had yummy jalapeño poppers from Pal’s brewery and my friend’s dad’s house. But back in the Philippines, we do not usually cook this, so I looked into recipes. The easiest recipe I found involved stuffing the jalapeño with cream cheese, wrapping it in bacon, and baking it. And as a self-acclaimed innovator, I did mine with a little twist. Can you guess what I did differently?

I love bacon, but it is not very healthy, so I vowed not to eat it unless it was free or part of a recipe from a restaurant’s menu. So, my jalapeño poppers had spam instead (free from the university pantry), plus I added ground meat and topped it with shredded cheese.

Ingredients:

1 bar of cream cheese

6 pcs jalapeño

1 cup ground meat sauteed in 1 tbsp oil with 1 tbsp garlic and a quarter of onion (optional)

12 thin strips of spam

1 cup shredded cheese (optional)

Procedure:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 425F.

2. Slice each jalapeño into half, giving you 12 halves of it. Remove the middle part and all the seeds.

3. Fill the middle part of each half jalapeño with cream cheese and ground meat (optional).

4. Top it with cheddar cheese and a thin slice of spam.

4. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Note: if you do not like it very spicy, you can opt to use small bell peppers instead of jalapeño.