Plenty of Peppers & Simple Humus

Homegrown & Organic

As far as the veggie garden goes, this year will be remembered as the Year of Peppers. Pretty, plentiful, perfect, peppers.  There are Bells, Sweet Banana & Jalapenos.  Everything organic!  Of these three, the jalapenos are the show stoppers.  All summer long they have been producing like mad.  So the curious, control freak, numbers person in me has been keeping count and as of the last picking session, we were at just over 700 jalapenos.  They all came from only nine small plants, none standing over two feet tall.  With a large measure of self control  I have managed to not pick any peppers for about two weeks.  The curious side of me wanted to see how big these suckers might get.  They actually got pretty big.  This afternoon I took a stroll thru the garden and decided that tomorrow I really need to do some harvesting.  There are somewhere between 80 and 100 jalapenos (not to mention the numerous buds), about 20 bells & approximately 40 large, fragrant, sweet banana peppers all of which are begging to be picked.  

Peppers Salad with Humus & Jalapeno Mayonnaise 

So, when it came time for dinner this evening there was no question about what I was having.  An incredible salad teaming with peppers from my garden topped with some of that yummy humus I made yesterday (just after I made the mayo) and a dollop of my very own jalapeno mayonnaise.  Believe it or not, this filled me up.  For this single serve salad;

• 2 large sweet banana peppers
• 1 large bell pepper
• 1 small tomato
• 2 medium mushrooms

The mushrooms were the only thing that did not come from my garden.

Sweet Banana Peppers

My Simple Humus

• 1 (29 oz) can Garbanzo Beans, mostly drained
• 1 (7 oz) jar Green Olives, not drained
• 1/2 c Tahini 
• 3 large cloves Garlic
• Spices and Herbs to taste  

Place the tahini, olives (with juice), garlic & herbs/spices of choice in the food processor and blend well.  Next, add the mostly drained garbanzo beans and blend until the humus reaches the constancy you like best.  Because the olives and juice are used, you should taste the humus before any salt is added.

Experiment with different herbs and spices, go with what sounds yummy that day.  Yesterday I used some jalapenos from the garden, sometimes it is crushed red peppers.  Once, it was rosemary, freshly picked moments earlier.

Naturally, this is a GF (gluten free) food!  Yummy & guilt free, I eat alot of it.  It also makes a great substitute for mayo or a great dip for fresh, raw veggies.