I’ve always seen “jalapeno poppers” listed as appetizers at restaurants, but they never struck me as appealing.  I usually breeze right past them and look for the nearest spinach-artichoke dip or fried pickles.  Call it “wisdom with age”, but I used to think jalapenos were gross just because of how they looked.  The same has happened to me with onions and coffee as I’ve grown up. Two foods that I couldn’t stand growing up are daily staples in my diet today (you can get this in writing, though: I will NEVER like mushrooms).

One day at the restaurant one of the chefs put jalapenos in my grilled chicken sandwich on accident, and being the “avoid conflict at all costs” type of girl that I am, I didn’t say anything.  However, after the first bite I realized: jalapenos are AWESOME! They gave the sandwich a spicy kick that took it to a whole other level.

Later that night I stumbled (ironically) upon a recipe for jalapeno dip.  I took that as a sign from above and decided to tweak it and bring it to movie night with my friends a few weeks ago.  It was a hit!

So if you’ve never tried jalapenos before or just love jalapeno poppers and want to try out an easy alternative, this is the recipe for you. The abundance of cream cheese and greek yogurt cools the jalapenos down and together they strike a perfect balance of hot and creamy.

Jalapeno Popper Diplicious

• 2 8oz packages of cream cheese
• 3/4 cup light mayo
• 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
• 2/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 4oz can of green chiles, drained
• 5 jalapenos diced (less if you don’t want it as spicy)
• 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs

Set oven to 375 — mix all ingredients together and top with the bread crumbs.  Bake for 25 minutes and serve immediately.

**Make sure to serve it right away, because once it starts to cool down it gets hard to scoop up with chips

**Serve with potato chips, pita chips, crackers, etc.  We had ours with pita but I think it’d be better with normal potato chips or crackers because of the saltiness.

**PS I didn’t say this was going to be healthy 😉

Enjoy!