Beautiful Abundance…

July 20, 2015

Here in Virginia, we are deep in the growing season.  Although Charming and I got a late start in our garden this year, it is proving to be very productive.  We have about six varieties of tomatoes, English cucumbers, bell peppers, Big Bertha long green peppers, banana peppers, asparagus beans, Kentucky Wonder pole beans, zucchini, and potatoes.  We planted multiplier onions last fall and were able to harvest them early, so I used the available space in the onion bed to plant Napa cabbage. 

Our banana pepper plants are producing at a phenomenal rate!  Year-before-last, I canned our banana peppers so that I could add them to sub sandwiches for Charming.  So this year I wanted to eat them fresh from the garden.  A simple recipe that I’ve been making use of lately is to stuff the banana peppers with cheese, wrap them in bacon and broil them in the oven for ten minutes (turning them over halfway through the cooking time).  These are really good and quick.  They’d be great for a party, but Charming and I often eat them for supper.  I’m choosing to believe that they are good for you as the recipe includes a vegetable and lots of protein.  (We won’t talk about the fat and cholesterol in the bacon.)

Here’s how easy it is to make the bacon-wrapped banana peppers… 

I pick a batch of about twelve of these beauties every week from
our garden.

Being the control freak, I line up my bacon, the plastic top to one
of my baking dishes, the cheese, and peppers.  This makes it
easier to get the assembly line in motion.  After cutting off the ends
of the peppers and cleaning out the seeds, I simply fill them with
shredded cheese and wrap each pepper with a slice of bacon.

I place the end of the bacon at the top (open) end of the pepper,
then the bacon is wrapped around the rest of the pepper in a
spiral.  Lastly, I stick a sturdy toothpick in the end and stack
them in a baking dish.  I put them in the refrigerator until I'm ready
to cook them.

When ready to bake, I place the peppers on my roasting pan, making
sure they don't touch each other.  Then I broil them for five minutes
on each side and they're ready to eat.

These would be great for small parties, but we eat them
for supper along with a salad or light vegetables.  They taste
great and also gluten-free!