Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

Wow! It’s been several days since I’ve been here on the blog! I just checked the views and we are at 20,998! Almost to 21,000. I know that is just small stuff to those who are really into the blogging world. But for little old me, that is amazing!

Last weekend we had all the family together again!!!! I was so glad that it worked out for my girl and her man to come as well as son #2 and his favorite lady friend. It has been since last Labor Day that we were all together, and with one of my Blue Stars heading overseas for several months, and another one of my Blue Stars also leaving soon, it will be a while before we can all be together again. I cherish the times we can all be under my roof and around my supper table!

We decided to have our 4th of July celebration on Saturday since my girl and her hubby would have to travel home on the 4th. Saturday was such a fun day!! While some of the guys went for a run, the girls and I  went shopping! Seriously, what else would we do, right?  In the afternoon  and evening we played some bocci out in the yard, played several very loud rounds of Scattergories, ate some amazing food, set off some fireworks, and laughed–a lot!

In addition to grilled steaks, we had potato salad, baked beans, tomatoes, hummus and salsa with chips, watermelon, etc. You know, all the good stuff that goes along with 4th of July! For dessert I had gotten a birthday cake for Barbi, but she decided that it would be better to celebrate all the July birthdays instead of just hers. Our combined ages equal 106!

On the spur of the moment I decided to put together some jalapeno poppers to add to the meal. These are very easy to make, and all the guys loved them! I really don’t have a recipe that I follow, but I will try to give close estimates on the amounts. They are THM-friendly, too!

The jalapeno peppers that I used were huge! Our local Aldi had them in a package of 5 for less than 75 cents! The bigger peppers are much easier to work with than smaller ones.

5 jalapeno peppers

2-3 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 wedge of garlic and herb cheese (got mine at Aldi)

Sprinkles of onion powder, garlic powder, salt (to taste)

5 slices of bacon

Cut the peppers in half length-wise and remove the seeds. Combine the cheeses and spices and mix well. Spoon the cheese mixture into each pepper half, using all of it.

Wrap each stuffed pepper half with a slice of bacon and place on a jelly roll pan.

Bake in 350* oven for about 15-20 minutes. The bacon should be getting crispy. Enjoy!

 

End of Summer

It is hard to believe that we have arrived at the end of September! For some reason, it seems like September would never end!  Anyway, the weather has been gorgeous the last few days…low humidity and cooler temperatures!  I just love fall!!

Today I decided it was about time to harvest the final peppers from the garden.  Here is what I got:

My half-bushel basket was just about full!!  These are jalapenos, hot chili peppers, and several varieties of bells.

I also noticed a visitor the other day just hanging around the house:

Last Saturday I took advantage of the beautiful weather to pull up my remaining summer flowers and plant pansies. Remember my repurposed bread pans? (https://cookbookexperiment.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/repurposed-bread-pans/ )  Here they are with their new fall flowers!

Pickled Peppers and Kitchen Memories

As I mentioned in a post several weeks ago, we have been getting lots of peppers this year…mainly our hot peppers, although the bell peppers aren’t doing too badly either.  My hubby is the only member of the family who enjoys eating hot peppers freshly picked from the plant.  The kids enjoy them in salsa and shrimp dip, but never just eating plain!  Since we have such an abundance, I have been working on ways to preserve them for future use.  The hubs came up with the idea of pickling them, so I did some searching for a good,  easy recipe.  None of my favorite cookbooks had recipes for pickling peppers, so I went to the internet like any modern-day lady would do.  Sure enough! I found several recipes!  This one came from allrecipes.com and calls for padron peppers.  I don’t have any of that variety, but have tons of jalapenos and hot chili peppers.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pickled-padron-peppers/detail.aspx  I used 2 small jars and cut the peppers in half instead of using a quart jar with whole peppers.

The other day as I was making hamburger patties, I started reminiscing about my mom and the way she did things in the kitchen.  I realized that my hamburger patty shaper is the same one she used for years!  This of course got me thinking about other kitchen tools I have that once were hers.  I pulled out a few of these to share in a picture with you.  The canning funnel, hamburger patty shaper, and gravy shaker are all made of aluminum, and must be about 57 years old!  The whisk was given to my mom years ago before we ever moved from NJ, so it also is quite old, probably about 45 years old.  I still use all of these except the gravy shaker.  I just can’t seem to get the lid on tightly enough to keep it from leaking when I shake it!

Breakfast Quesadillas

It is hard to believe that June is nearly over!  The days seems to be flying by! We are continuing to have lots of rain, usually for just a few hours each day.  With the hotter temperatures, it feels like we are living in a rain forest!!  At least we do not need to water the garden!  We are enjoying our own fresh tomatoes and peppers right now, and are eagerly awaiting the corn! The stalks are over 6 feet tall!!

 
I came across this recipe a few weeks ago in an insert in our local newspaper.  It is a nice change to the oft-served scrambled eggs and bacon!  Since I didn’t have all the ingredients called for, I did my usual substituting and had a terrific hearty meal for my guys!

6 slices of bacon, cooked crispy and crumbled

4 eggs, beaten

1 jalapeno pepper, diced

1 tsp. diced  fresh chives

salt to taste

1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese or Mexican blend cheese

1/2 c. sour cream

1/2 c. thick salsa

4 (10-inch) flour tortillas

olive oil

Put about 1 tbsp. of olive oil in a large skillet.  Lightly stir fry the pepper and chives until just tender.  Add the eggs and cook until done, stirring frequently.  Remove eggs to a plate, and divide eggs, bacon  and cheese into 4 servings.  Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet.  Place one tortilla in the skillet.  Layer some eggs, cheese, and crumbled bacon on one half of the tortilla.  Fold other half over the top of  the filling and gently press together.  Lightly brown for a few minutes.  Flip quesadilla over and lightly brown on the other side. Make sure cheese melts.  Repeat with remaining ingredients to make 4 large quesadillas or 8 small ones if you cut each one in half.

Mix sour cream with salsa.  Serve on the side of each quesadilla. I served a slice of fresh tomato with a sprig of fresh cilantro!

When It’s Too Hot to Cook

The hot summer temperatures have descended upon us not only here in the south, but all over the country!  On Sunday we hit a record high of 107 degrees!  Yesterday was  much nicer at 95.  When the temps hit these highs, cooking over a hot stove is just out of the question!  Grilling outside is even worse.

The other day I asked my Facebook friends to give me their ideas of how they feed their families when it is just too hot to cook.  I received lots of wonderful ideas that I will share over the next few days.  Here are a few recipes to get you started!  Most of these I have not tried, but they do come highly recommended!

The first one I discovered last week in the little USA Weekend paper that comes in our Sunday newspaper.  It is an icy drink which sounds great!  Here is the link to the recipe:  http://www.usaweekend.com/article/20120622/FOOD04/306220004/Recipe-Watermelon-Lime-Mint-Granita While you are at the website, check out their other summer food ideas.  The blueberry lemonade sounds amazing!

 

My friend Toni serves her family platter dinners when the temps are just too hot to cook.  She fills large platters with deli meat slices, various cheeses, raw veggies with dips, olives, and other healthful goodies.

 

My friend Lori shared 3 recipes with me that she has made during these hot days.  Here is her first one, Texas Caviar

1 lg. can diced tomatoes, drained

1 can black eyed peas, rinsed and drained

1 can shoe peg corn, rinsed and drained

1 medium onion, diced

1 medium bell pepper, diced

1-2 jalapenos, diced

1 sm. bottle Italian dressing

Salt

Pepper

Cayenne pepper

Hot sauce

Mix all canned vegetables with onions and peppers. Add Italian dressing. Use salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and hot sauce to taste.  Refrigerate overnight.  This recipe makes a lot and keeps a good while in the fridge. It also improves in taste over the course of several days.  This is good served with specialty crackers or chips.

Check the blog over the next few days for other “Stay Cool” recipes!