I’m always good at party food.

Well, I’m better with party drinks.  I used to be REALLY good at party drinks.  But then I quit smoking and now my party drinks are consumed wearing paper hats and eating  Thomas the Train cakes.

But there’s a little part of me that really would love to own a sports bar.   6 ginormous TVs with people screaming…Albert Pujols’ jersey hanging on the wall.  I would love love LOVE to plan menus for sports fans.

Beer.  Nachos.  Chili.  Wings.  Popcorn.  Pulled Pork.  Onion Rings. Fried Pickles.  Brats and Sausage.

What am I forgetting?

Oh yeah, jalapeno poppers.

Oh…one more time:  Jalapeno Poppers.

I love fresh jalapeno poppers…How did I come to make them today?  Today of all days?

Let me start with this:

I was doing inventory in the bakery, and I found this:Rut-Roh, Raggy…what was I going to make with this?

Christmas is over.  Way over.  What can I do with a bag of cranberries?

Cranberry and walnut bread?  ZZZzzzz

Cranberry ketchup?  Yeah, like Matt would eat that.

Cranberry Cheesecake?  Once again, Amy must consume an entire cheesecake alone.

So I turned to the place where everyone turns when they can’t figure out what to do with cranberries:  OceanSpray.com

Bingo.

Kickin’ Cranberry Jalapeno Poppers.  And look how many stars it has!

So let’s do that…

I made the cranberries into sauce by boiling them for 10 minutes with 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water.  Instructions on the bag…

2 pkgs cream cheese, 20 jalapenos, 1 pkg + 5 slices bacon, 1 sleeve butter crackers, 1/2 tsp garlic salt, and the cranberry sauce.

And here’s the least fun job of the new year:  cleaning jalapenos:

Cut off the stem, scoop out the insides…

It took me about 20 minutes.  I was ready to rub the seeds and ribs in my eyes about 10 minutes in.  But I finished.

Don’t wipe the eyes, touch your drink…any of that stuff until you wash your hands.  Even though you can’t see the hot stuff, it’s there.  Trust me, I cleaned jalapenos then I tried to put my contacts in without washing my hands once.

Once.

I mixed the cream cheese and the cranberry sauce, then crushed the butter crackers into another bowl…Assembly line…

Cream cheese mixture…Cracker crumbs…

Wrap in 1/2 slice of bacon…Repeat x 39.

Ugh.

But I finished.

After all were stuffed and crumbed and wrapped, I had this much cream cheese mixture left over…

Which will be lovely on my turkey sandwich at supper.

Bake the poppers at 350 for 20 minutes…And bring on the sports fans!

Cranberry Jalapeno Poppers

Adapted from Ocean Spray

Print me, Baby!

20 fresh jalapenos

1 pkg + 5 slices bacon

2 pkgs cream cheese

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 bag cranberries

1/2 tsp garlic

1 sleeve butter crackers

Boil the sugar and water, add cranberries.  Boil cranberries for 10 minutes, allow to cool completely.  Mix the cranberry sauce with the cream cheese, set aside.  Crush the butter crackers and put crumbs in a large bowl.  Split the jalapenos and remove seeds and ribs.  Fill each jalapeno half with the cranberry mixture, then top with butter cracker crumbs.  Wrap each filled jalapeno half with 1/2 slice of bacon.  Place jalapenos  on oven-safe rack over a baking sheet.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until bacon is fully cooked.

Don’t burn your mouth on these.  I did.