Insert Clever Pun-Filled Title Here.

It has long since been determined by anyone with taste buds that bacon makes EVERYTHING better.  (Burger King apparently subscribes to this line of thought, though I have yet to try their sundae.)  The following is really no exception.  Looking for a super flavorful, fun, easy little appetizer/entree?  Look no further.

First, the basics.  These are small chicken tender pieces, flattened and then spread with a cream cheese/jalapeno mixture.  Roll them up with some bacon, stick them with a toothpick, cook 'em and bam.  Dinner.

I believe these were originally intended (when first blogged on Salad in a Jar) to be appetizers.  I however, paired them with Spaghetti Aglio and it made a delicious entree instead.

You can find the Spaghetti Aglio recipe here.  I'm not re-posting it, as I made it verbatim.  I will say that I found this spaghetti reeee-heeeaaally spicy.  I'd cut the flakes a bit the next time I make it.  

I also believe these were meant to be kind of healthy-ish, as the original recipe (which you can find at that link up there) calls for grilling these bad boys.  As you know, I don't know how to grill.  So I did the next best thing.

I fried them up.  Yep.  A little oil in a pot and they sizzled for a minute or two and were done.  I made these for my dad's birthday dinner (which was months and months ago, don't judge me) and he happens to love spicy food, anything slightly Mexican, bacon, and the following sauce.

I made that sauce up, thank you very much.  Ok, so I'm sure I'm not the first one to pair such things as avocados and sour cream, but I will take credit when I can.  My family insisted that the spaghetti was even better when mixed with this sauce.  If you'd like to dip your jalapeno chicken bites in something muy delicioso, here's the sauce "recipe" (term used loosely as I never measure anything...)

I would compare these bites to jalapeno poppers - just a bit more substantial.  Seeing that I love jalapeno poppers (the kind with the cream cheese, not the kind with cheddar.  Everyone knows that REAL jalapeno poppers are made with cream cheese, right??)  

Mmmm... I'd kind of like to go make some right now... So here's the recipe as I made them, slightly different than how they were made originally.

For dessert, I made my dad this easy to do peanut butter fluff pudding dessert.  He turned the big 6-4, so we needed something extra delicious and that did the trick.  (Though, truth be told, he probably would have preferred something along these lines.)

Feliz Cumpleanos, mi padre!  You know, back in June and all...

And because mini is a living incubator for highly contagious viral infections, I've spent the majority of the day in my pj's.  Hence the lack of clever puns and witty banter generally prevalent in my posts. I only mention this so you'll understand when I spend the rest of the week in a cold medicine induced coma instead of posting... 

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