Banana Pepper appetizer

This is a recipe that shows up all summer at our house. It is crazy easy to make and guest ohh & ahh every time. I received this from a young market attendee a few years ago and misplaced the recipe card that she gave me with her name. I remember that she was a remarkable young lady and was home schooled--if you gave this recipe to me, let me know so you get the credit!

Other than the panko bread crumbs (in the international section of most grocery stores) cream/goat cheese (goat cheese may be showing up yet this fall!), ALL items are available at the Bloomington Downtown Farmer's Market.

Stuffed Banana Peppers

8-10 banana peppers

8 oz cream cheese or goat cheese

2-3 slices bacon, cooked & crumbled

1/4 c sweet onion, chopped finely

1/4 c Cheddar cheese, grated

Panko Bread crumbs

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Wash peppers. Lay pepper on its side and remove the top 1/3, leaving on the stem. Carefully remove the seed pod and white membrane. Use gloves if necessary.

Combine cream cheese, bacon, onion, cheddar cheese, salt & pepper. Spoon cheese mixture into pepper shells, mounding up cheese.

Place panko bread crumbs on a plate. Turn peppers upside down in the panko crumbs and place on a baking sheet.

Bake in oven at 350° for 7-8 minutes. Turn broiler on for the last minute to brown the panko crumbs if necessary.

"How do I fix..........?"

"How do you fix eggplant?" That is one of the most frequent questions that we get right after "When's the corn going to be here?" ( July 15 this year).

It just dawned on me that I have the perfect forum to list how-to guides for preparing vegetables and recipe ideas. So often at a market, someone will ask how to prepare something. Bill and both love to cook and are always looking for more ways to prepare the veggies that we sell and we really enjoy sharing with our customers.

However, a busy Saturday isn't the best time to have your customers memorize multi-step recipes for foods that they have never prepared before! A few years ago, we decided to print recipe cards to have on the tables. Having recipes available has bolstered many a new cook's confidence level! I try to have fairly simple, quick recipes for the produce we have available at the time. The markets have been so popular this year, we can't seem to keep recipes in stock! It really is a good problem to have.

Something that Bill and I educate market goers over and over again is the basic, simple preparation of many veggies. Many people never learned to cook or didn't have the need to learn, but for a variety of reasons (health, economics, sustainability) have decided to start preparing local, fresh foods. When we first started selling produce, we never thought that quite a bit of what we do at each market would be educating folks about produce. I'm just glad that people are curious enough to ask and are willing to learn and that we have answers to their questions.

So, as I get around to it, I'll post basic preparation steps for some of our more popular veggies. If I think about when I'm actually cooking, I'll even take step by step pictures! I'm just going to ask for a few things from you: if you have a favorite recipe for something, send to to me! If you think it's good, others will also; plus, YOU get all the credit. If you know someone who is struggling with learning to cook, send them the link to this site. Finally, if there is a veggie that I haven't covered or you have a question about preparing it--ask away! Leave your questions/queries in the comments or e-mail me directly at pattm1966@comcast.net.