Shrimp Stuffed Jalapeno - Appetizers

I don't often fry things at home because we are all trying to eat healthier. However, every now and then you just have to splurge. There is a "chain" restaurant that we visited recently that a bit higher priced restaurant for a family to dine at a regular basis - at least on our budget.  But the food there is very good, and we were due for a splurge.  One of the things my family likes at this restaurant is an appetizer dish called Stingers. These are jalapenos stuffed with shrimp and cheese.  I love to find dishes that I can recreate at home for the family, so I did a bit of experimenting and managed to do just that. Below are the instructions for my home version of their Stingers.

The most expensive thing about this dish is obviously the shrimp, plus I was thinking that a lot of folks are allergic to seafood, so I was thinking about what would be a great alternative for the shrimp, and someone suggested mushrooms or those pre-cooked bagged chicken strips.  That would probably work, but I'm sticking with the shrimp for now!

First, you will need fresh jalapenos, shrimp, Colby and Jack cheese, Fish-Fry, a cup of flour, and oil to fry them in.

Slice the ends off the jalapenos, and then slice from the cut end to the tip on one side to make a shell. With a small spoon or knife, scoop out the seeds and clean the inside of each pepper well.

Slice the cheese into small (a little less than bite-size) pieces.

Mix the Fish-Fry batter with the flour and just enough water to make a good batter.

For each appetizer, use two shrimp for large peppers and one shrimp for smaller peppers, unless you are using jumbo shrimp. Improvise for what you have on hand.

Take a pepper shell and place a shrimp so that the tail is placed outside the cut end. Top each shrimp with a slice of cheese.   Note that my pepper in the photo below isn't stuffed enough. I did that for the picture so you'd have a general idea.  I added another bite of shrimp in the end of that pepper.

Something else I did:   The shrimp didn't want to uncurl to sit in the pepper properly, so I split the meaty end of the shrimp about half way in so it would straighten and lay a bit flatter. 

 Carefully place the stuffed pepper into the batter and coat thoroughly, then place each one separately in the hot oil.   

Fry until browned. Remove from the oil and drain on a paper towel covered plate.

Serve with ranch and dressing for dipping.

I had plenty of shrimp and batter left over so I dropped the shrimp into the batter and made fried shrimp as well.

Thankfully, I had a few shrimp left over, so I sautéed them in a bit of olive oil and roasted garlic and slurped them up just like they were.

Yum!