Peppers

The bulk of my garden is done for now.  I will do some later planting in a couple of months.  Right now I have plenty of peppers.  I have many more than I can quickly use up.  I am freezing them for later.  First are the bell peppers.  I can always use these to add to dishes especially in the winter.  I chopped these into pieces and had a quart bag of pepper to use later when I have no fresh peppers.

 I also have an over abundance of jalapeno peppers this year.  It was sort of planned since I did double the number of plants from last year.  I took advantage of all the extras to make jalapeno poppers to freeze.  I love these, but they are usually breaded and deep fried - good but far from healthy. 

To make my freezer friendly poppers, I slice the jalapenos in half and remove the seeds and membrane. Next I mix together 8 ounces of softened cream cheese, about half a cup of shredded cheddar cheese, and a good pinch of salt. (I can do about 16 whole or 32 half jalapenos with this amount.) That mixture gets squished into each jalapeno half. Then I dip them in my homemade bread crumbs (these were made from leftover homemade hot dog buns). I really press to get a good coating of the bread crumbs. I put them in a foil container and stick them in the freezer until they are frozen solid. Then they go into a freezer bag. To serve, take out as many as you need and put them in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes or so until the cheese is bubbly. The bread crumbs help hold it in the pepper so it does not ooze everywhere.