Jalapeño Poppers

Remember my Father’s Day blog? We planted a Jalapeño pepper in one of the pots that we put around the grill. Now our one plant is really producing and I just wanted to give you my go to recipe for peppers. Jalapeño peppers can cost over $3 a pound at the grocery store. Growing one plant will give you plenty of peppers for a minimal cost.

First thing is to wash the pepper, slice it down one side and seed it. The pepper will give off fumes that will make you cough so the best thing to do is to seed them under water. This will help. Once the peppers are seeded you must wash your hands! If you rub your eye afterward without washing your hands you will never do it again. Ouch!

Dry the peppers off with a paper towel. Next stuff each one with cream cheese. Don’t overstuff. The cream cheese will absorb the pepper and bacon taste. Yum.
Next take a half strip of bacon and wrap it around the stuffed pepper. You will need a toothpick to hold the bacon in place.

Now you can place your peppers on a cookie sheet with a rack and heat them in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes. Take them out and turn them over. Finish cooking until the bacon is nice and crisp, about 15 minutes more. You can cook these on the grill as well but use tin foil with a few small holes in the bottom for drainage.
We love to serve these as appetizers but you can also make them a side dish. So delicious. The heat mostly cooks out so the flavor is wonderful without the burn factor.

I’ve heard that you can freeze these but I’ve never done that. Makes sense though and since Jalapeños are so expensive it would be good to use them up and not waste any. I think I’d cook them half way through before freezing. Then I'd take them out - thaw and finish them in the oven for holiday parties.
You can use them on pizza (had one of those in Houston) or in my June 17 blog you’ll find Jalapeños in my salad recipe. Make sure to save the seeds for next year in a dry cool place. That saves money as well.

Figs- They are ripe NOW

The fig is more than a newton cookie. The fig is the most talked about fruit in the Bible yet many people have never taken a bite of a fresh fig. It’s true - the fig can efficiently take the place of fat in baking! Many people believe that it was the fig that tempted Adam and not the apple. I don’t know about that but I do know that figs are ripe and in season so it’s time to start getting to know the fig. 1/2 cup of figs = 1/2 cup of milk when it comes to calcium. You can dry figs and they will keep for months that way but I prefer to make them into compote and freeze them for later use.
This is how fig compote is done.

You take your fresh figs - I get them from a neighbors tree and I get permission to do so - and take off the stem and top of each while I wash them under running water. They are very sugary and sticky to deal with so the running water helps.

I put them into a pot with sugar (a pound to a cup) and slowly cook the figs down on very low heat. This takes about 2 hours. That’s it.

I put some on Brie with toasted pecans and bacon bits for a concert we attended at Chastain Park.

You can also put some on ice cream or homemade angel food cake.
You can wrapped figs in prosciutto after stuffing them with blue cheese for the perfect appetizer. Although considered a fruit, the fig is actually a flower that is inverted into itself. The seeds are the real fruit.
So try a fresh off the tree "flower" and discover the wonderful flavor of a fresh fig - it’s more than just a cookie.

Grow It First with CK Worley ~ Summer Salad

Here is my recipe for the best summer salad ever! You’ll need really ripe tomatoes, some fresh basil, crisp bacon, feta cheese -or cheese you like best - and some thinly sliced red onion (which I forgot in these photos) Next some balsamic vinegar and good olive oil. Such a yummy, creamy, fresh, savory salad. Enjoy!

photo credit: CK Worley

photo credit: CK Worley

photo credit: CK Worley

photo credit: CK Worley