Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Banana Peppers

Growing our own vegetables has been such an adventure for my little family. When my Farmer and I started a life together, he mentioned wanting to have a garden. I instantly thought back to my childhood and memories of the garden that my grandparents had. My grandparents had a huge garden full of vegetables and two thistle seed feeders on opposite sides for the gold finches. I loved watching the gold finches. I've since tried to attract gold finches to my yard, but with no luck. But maybe more on that topic on another day.

I'm not even sure I remember everything that we planted in our inaugural garden that year. I know there was cucumber and dill. My mom taught me how to make pickles that year. I didn't even know that she knew how to make them! I also know that we had planted some tomatoes and peppers. I vaguely recall making salsa. I had no recipe, and was just adding amounts based on what I thought looked right. I still have and use my original recipe that I wrote down all those years ago. And we also planted okra. I had never heard of okra, and most definitely had no clue what to do with this curious vegetable. Pinterest wasn't a thing yet, so I had to rely on an internet search instead of a screen full of pretty pictures of wonderful tried and true okra recipes from fellow food bloggers. How did we ever survive?

A few years later, the Farmer requested a new vegetable to be added to the annual list of vegetables to buy for the garden. He asked for banana peppers. I hate to admit it, but I had no idea what a banana pepper was. After a few years of gardening under my belt, I was feeling a bit more confident about growing something new and learning how to prepare it. I started by adding the peppers to my salsa. Then I learned how to can them. They are great on nachos! I also throw the entire pepper on the grill. The Farmer and the Little Farmer love to eat them right off the grill or on a cheeseburger. And then I got fancy and created this recipe. They are a must make when the banana peppers are in season. I don't think that summer grilling would be the same for the Farmers in my house if I didn't make these tasty appetizers.

 

 

Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Banana Peppers

Author: The Marigold Kitchen

Wrapped in bacon and stuffed with cream cheese, these are a staple in the summer when banana peppers are fresh in the garden!

Ingredients

• 6 banana peppers
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1/4 cup shredded Colby Jack cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 6 strips bacon

Instructions

1. Prepare the banana peppers. Cut the tops off, slice each pepper down the middle lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds.
2. In a small bowl, mix the cream cheese, shredded cheese, and seasoned salt.
3. For each pepper, spoon some of the cream cheese mixture into the middle, put the pepper back together, then wrap with a strip of bacon.
4. Grill on medium high heat for 10 minutes, turning a few times to evenly grill all sides. Sometimes I grill these in a foil pan so I don't make my grill a mess!

Notes:

When preparing the peppers, I like to make sure to cut as close to the stem as possible and not take out too much of the white membrane at the top. This way when you put the pepper back together, the white membrane helps close the top of the pepper to prevent too much of the cheese melting out.

Air Fryer Zucchini

 I love my summer garden. We eat out of it almost all summer long. I can, freeze, and share the harvest. The sweet corn, beans, tomatoes, and peppers are plentiful. And you know what else is plentiful? The zucchini. Ugh. I'm just not a huge fan of this green vegetable. I try to like it. I've prepared it in breads and brownies. I've even made it into a mock apple pie. I've tried it in just about any recipe that hides the zucchini. I just don't see the big deal about zucchini. (I should add that I found a zucchini pizza casserole recipe the whole family loves. And I sometimes add zucchini that I have in my freezer to my spaghetti sauce. So maybe I like it a little more than I think. But don't tell the Farmer.)

It's a joke here in Iowa that the zucchini is so plentiful, that in order to get rid of your harvest you need to leave it on someone's door step when they are least expecting it. Think of it like a zucchini stork delivering bundles of not-so-cute squash that are nothing to be desired.  I once was "gifted" nine zucchini this way. NINE!!!! What on earth was I going to do with NINE zucchini???? I "gifted" them to some one else. 

Even though I never look forward to a zucchini plant in the middle of my perfect garden of other glorious veggies, my hubby always plants one. He loves zucchini. He even eats it when I don't try to hide it in other foods. The past two years, the zucchini plants have not made it. I may or may not have been secretly delighted about this, but we were still "gifted" zucchini that I had to deal with. This year, we have TWO zucchini plants. It's like the zucchini gods knew I silently (or not so silently) cheered when the Farmer's beloved plants did not thrive. 

Which brings me to this recipe that I created. As much as I do not like preparing zucchini, this Air Fryer Zucchini recipe is quick and easy. I was a little late to the air fryer game. Okay, really late. I've only had mine a few months now. I'm still learning how to use it, and have been trying to create recipes so I can use it for more that just cooking up some cheese balls or frozen fish sticks. The Farmer loves this Air Fryer Zucchini so much, he polished off the entire plate by himself last night. 

Air Fryer Zucchini

Author: The Marigold Kitchen

A unique and tasty appetizer that is fresh from the garden!

Ingredients

• 2 cups zucchini slices, sliced about 1/4 inch
• 1/4 cup Italian Dressing
• 1 cup Panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Prepare your zucchini by slicing it into 1/4 inch slices. You can peel the zucchini if desired.
2. Add the Italian dressing to a bowl.
3. In another bowl, toss together the bread crumbs, cheese, and seasonings.
4. Coat each zucchini slice in the dressing, the the bread crumbs.
5. Lay the slices in a single layer in an air fryer.
6. Air fry at 375 degrees for 5 minutes, flip and fry for another 3 minutes.

Notes:

Ranch dressing makes a great dipping sauce!