Plentiful Peppers

These pretty bell peppers are by far my summer garden favorite. They were grown from organic open pollinated seeds. Easy to start, transplant, grow, harvest and freeze. Delicious and highly nutritious. So glad we have Plentiful Peppers this year!

Bell peppers contain very high amount of vitamin C and A as well as significant amounts of vitamin B6.  They are low in calories and high in antioxidants. They are an excellent source of lycopend which is known to lower the risk of some cancers. Bell Pepper is in fact one of the worlds most nutrition foods.

Did you know that Paprika is a dried powdered form of bell pepper? This spice can be made from any color of bell pepper and once dried and ground it will be red. I had no idea!

When my mother, mom’s mom, told me that Bell Peppers could be frozen easily and were really good right out of the freezer, I did not believe that her version of “good” was the same as mine. I thought they would be soggy and yucky. She gave me a couple of bags to try and boy was I wrong. I used that bag of frozen bell pepper strips for a full year in omelets, spaghetti sauce, meatloaf, salads and steak sandwiches. When I ran out, it annoyed me to buy them at the store. This year I decided to grow them in my summer garden.

Below, I will demonstrate just how easy they are to freeze and share an easy meal starring none other than the fresh Bell Pepper.

The first step is to wash. I used the sink and about a half cup of vinegar then rinse thoroughly several times in Cleaning Garden Produce.

Here is the equipment I used to prepare and freeze my peppers. If you have a vacuum food sealer, then you won’t need the straw or the freezer bag.

Start by cutting the pepper in half length wise revealing the pulp and seeds.

Another tool that works really well is a Pampered Chef grapefruit knife. This knife is serrated and curved and removes the pulpy sections with ease.

Since the seeds are heirloom, I can save them and grow plants from them next year. This means no money spent on seeds or peppers for years to come!

Once the peppers are free of seeds and pulp, cut them into strips.

Place the strips onto cookie sheets. You can stack them on top of each other placing wax paper between them. Put them into the freezer.

Once the strips are frozen solid, put them into a freezer bag. Insert a straw and close the bag only leaving the opening for the straw.

Using the straw, suck the air from the bag. When you see the bag tightening around the peppers, remove the straw and finish closing the bag. Keep the straw handy so that you can remove the air from the bag after opening.

Now the bag is ready to put in the freezer.  The peppers are already individually frozen and ready to be used. Just take out as many as you want and place remainder back in the freezer.   Rinse the peppers under water to thaw a little and prepare as you would a fresh slice of pepper.

Now, to share another reason these sweet green peppers have been this year’s garden favorite. Our family has enjoyed them stuffed and baked, all summer long. They are so easy to make and can be stuffed with virtually any thing you like or have on hand. For example, at the time of writing this post, I am on a grocery store strike. Sometimes I just cannot make myself go to the store so I get creative with what I have on hand.

Recently we received the generous gift of a whole bunch of leftover Nutri System  food.  I know a lot of folks that have ordered this food with good intentions and not stuck with it.  So today 3 containers of cheesy macaroni with beef was cooked and placed in the peppers. Approximately 2 plus cups of filling are needed to stuff 15 pepper halves.

Some moisten stove top stuffing was placed on top and the dish was baked at 350 until bubbly and brown. Other yummy ways to enjoy stuffed peppers:

• Stove Top Stuffing with Crab Meat. Topped with cheese.
• Cooked rice with ground beef, onions, black beans. Topped with cheese.
• Cooked rice with sauteed onions, mushrooms, bacon. Topped with cheese.

This list could go on and on. We would love to hear your ideas for stuffing Bell Peppers or serving them raw.

Enjoy the Season of Plentiful Peppers!