Venison Stuffed Jalapenos

With the Holidays here, you probably need an appetizer to serve or share at parties.  This is a great one that pairs well with beer, wine, ice tea or soft drinks.  It started  from a recipe for stuffed jalapenos that my niece would bring for Thanksgiving appetizers and I just kept experimenting until I arrived at this recipe, this year. 
You could use any type of ground meat that you like.  Chicken or Lamb would probably be just as delicious.

About 5 dozen small to medium Jalapenos
4 slices of Bacon, finely chopped before cooking
1 medium Onion, finely grated
1/2 pound of Ground Venison
1 teaspoon of Garlic Powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper
1/2 teaspoon of Tarragon
1 Tablespoon of Orange Zest
2 8-ounce packages of Cream Cheese
3/4 cup of Taco Blend Shredded Cheese, divided

Wash jalapenos and with a sharp knife, cut jalapenos in half and remove seeds and ribs.  Set aside. I wear plastic gloves when cleaning the peppers to keep getting burned from the juice.
In a large skillet, cook bacon until done but not brown, do not drain fat.  Add onion and cook until done.  Add venison, salt, pepper, tarragon, and garlic powder.  Cook until done.  Remove from heat and add orange zest, cream cheese and 1/2 cup of shredded cheese.  Mix together and fill the jalapeno halves.  Arrange on greased, foil lined cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.  Top with remaining cheese. At this point you can refrigerate the peppers until later, up to 24 hours or you can return to the oven and bake until the cheese just starts to brown.  If you refrigerate the peppers, you will need to let them return to room temperature before baking or the middles will still be cold and the top will be hot. This makes about 10 dozen.

Enjoy!

Deloris