Bacon-wrapped, cream cheese-stuffed jalapenos!!!

These are so yummy!!!

9/25/2012

Fresh, locally grown, jalapenos, cream cheese, bacon!

 I always rinse the jalapenos, cut out the seed core, remove ALLLLLL seeds & use a narrow, sharp knife to hollow out the inside of as much of the white 'ribs' as you possibly can--leave these in if you'd like them to be spicier. 

I don't eat spicy stuff and have found by removing the seeds and ribs I am usually safe once these are baked that they won't be spicy. (I won't chance buying them at the store, these I buy from a local farmer whose produce I have become very familiar with)

 Once I've seeded them I will rinse them inside & out very very thoroughly and also wash both cutting boards with hot soap and water.

I then use a clean knife to cut off strips of cream cheese- how ever many jalapenos I have, I will cut strips for.

 I have discovered cream cheese is very 'moldable' lol :) Very easy to just twist into the jalapenos and fill each one to the top, smoothing off the top

 I lay foil onto a cookie sheet (less cleanup later) & spray with nonstick coating. 

Wrap each pepper in a strip of bacon-I like using the thick sliced bacon, but whatever your preference would suffice, even the maple bacon I would guess would taste good with this!

Bake at 325 for between 25 and 35 minutes, depending how many peppers and also how crispy you like the bacon.

If you are like me & a major wimp when it comes to spice, I would be careful buying the peppers & stick to buying them from someone you are familiar with so you'll know what the chances of them being 'hot' are. About 1 out of 10 peppers I buy from him are 'almost' too hot for me, I can still handle them once they've been stripped of 'the good stuff' lol :)

I also keep a glass of milk handy just in case there is a hot one, that or a slice of bread are both good rescuers if need be :) enjoy!!

Salsa!

Homemade Salsa wi/th fresh ingredients!

9/25/2012

Made home made salsa for the first time in a long time!! Most of the ingredients were locally grown, as well!

 Fresh & locally grown; tomatoes, costa rican peppers, bell peppers, jalapenos (one seen here but I put two in the salsa). 

From the store; sweet yellow onion, parsley, garlic, cilantro, sea salt, pepper, garlic salt & tortilla chips :)

Using a handheld chopper I recently stumbled across that I've had in a cupboard for years and yet only recently realized it's full potential with all of my new found cooking at home!! I've never really put this baby to as much use as I did in just the last couple days lol!!

I minced all ingredients instead of chopped because I'm still getting the hang of the chopper lol :) When I made the bruschetta (see previous posted recipe ;-D ) you can tell I've learned to 'chop' instead of just mince lol :)

Bruschetta!

Bruschetta!

Made bruschetta for the first time!

Ingredients: Tomatoes, basil, feta cheese, onions, minced garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper. Also will need sour dough toast

I made bruschetta after a friend gave me a great recipe! I didn't measure, I just used what sounded good to me lol ;) My favorite method for cooking!

Diced about 4 medium sized tomatoes.

4oz of feta cheese

Diced a  wedge of sweet yellow onion 

 

(I use sweet yellow in just about anything, while I enjoy the taste of purple onion, sometimes they can be spicy-the white ones can also be spicy. The sweet yellows seem to be pretty consistent in how they taste)

 

Minced about 3 cloves of garlic

(I like a lot of garlic lol :) ) 

Used a squirt of organic chopped basil 

(comes in a tube marked gourmet garden)

a splash of olive oil

a splash of balsamic vinegar

sprinkle of salt & pepper

Mixed this altogether & put it in the fridge overnight.

I then bought a sour dough baguette & sliced it into about 3/4" slices

 

I toasted those in the toaster oven & topped them with the bruschetta!!

 

Sooooo yummy!!! And easy to make too! Would make a great party favor =D

Jessy's Juice #13

Tuesday 9/25/2012

~Juicing with my power juicer express~

Peach, 2 stalks of celery, beet, 2 kiwi, a sliver of ginger root, 3 carrots, lime, broccoli, strawberries, spinach, parsley & cilantro

 Here are some of the minerals and vitamins I received in today's lunch juice :)

Cilantro: (Thiamin, zinc, fiber, Vitamin A, C, E, K, B6, riboflavin, niacin, calcium, iron, magnesium, folate, pantothenic acid, potassium, phosphorus, copper & manganese

Peach: (born, antioxidants, vitamin C, & beta carotene)

Celery: ( Riboflavin, vitamin B6, K, C, A, pantothenic acid, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, manganese & folate

Beet: (folic acid, iron, calcium & potassium)

Kiwi: (Fiber, Vitamin E, C, K, potassium & copper

Carrots: ( beta carotene, Vitamin A, C, pectin, flourine & potassium)

Broccoli: (beta carotene, Vitamin C, calcium, iron, folic acid & chromium)

Strawberries: (Folate, potassium, fiber, vitamin C, manganes)

Spinach: (antioxidants, potassium, iron, calcium, Vitamin C)

Parsley: ( antioxidants, folic acid, iron, vitamin A & C)

Ginger Root: (Vitamin C, manganese, magnesium, copper, potassium)

The lime and the beet were the strongest flavors I could taste, followed closely by the peach and the the combination of green stuff & the carrot. The strawberries add just a hint of sweetness to it.

This juice is a relatively smooth texture, and just about like a thick juice, not quite as thick as a smoothie. Very tasty :)

Homemade spaghetti sauce & homemade meatballs =D

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce w/ Homemade Meatballs!!

9/24/2012

I made my homemade spaghetti sauce again! Came out amazing! This time I also cooked homemade meatballs to go with! Those were incredible too!!

The recipe for my sauce can be found in the blog archive =) If you don't want to search for it, feel free to contact me and I will send it to you :)

For the meatballs, I started with some fresh minced parsley and fresh minced garlic.

 I then mixed 1 1/2 lbs of ground beef, 1lb of ground pork, 6 eggs, 3 cups of dry bread crumbs, 1 1/2 cups of milk and some salt and pepper all together!

 I shaped those into about 2-2 1/2 inch meatballs.

 Heated just a bit of vegetable oil in a pan, the fat from the meatballs really did most of the work after the first set of four meatballs. I cooked them on a low-med setting for about 20-30 mins each batch, using a meat thermometer to check the temp inside & be sure it was at 165 before I removed them and placed them in the sauce.

 I placed each batch directly in the sauce as they finished so the first ones cooked int he sauce longer, the last I let cook about 20mins before I removed the sauce from heat and from the pan to cool for a bit.

I let this sit in the fridge overnight as I prefer sauces the next day because the flavors have all blended together even more over night :) Tonight I will boil some spaghetti noodles & pour this over them! This recipe was given to me by a friend, it was a recipe his mother used from an old Betty Crocker cook book (from the '50s/'60s)

The sauce takes about an hour of preparation and it cooks for as long as you like- the longer it cooks, the better it tastes ;-) I let mine simmer for 3-4 hours

The meatballs take about half an hour of preparation and each batch of four took 20-30mins to cook. So it was about two hours to cook all of the meatballs doing it this way. 

A lot of work and a lot of patience but boy does it sure taste good!!!

Jessy's Juice #12

Monday 9/24/2012

~Juicing with my power juicer express~

Cilantro, parsley, spinach, tomato, lemon, beet, broccoli, kiwi, strawberries, cucumber, celery, carrot & ginger root 

Here is a breakdown of the nutrients in today's lunch time juice:

Cilantro (thiamin, zinc, fiber, vitamin A, C, E, K, B6, riboflavin, niacin, calcium, iron, magnesium, folate, pantothenic acid, potassium, phosphorus, copper & manganese)

Parsley: (antioxidants, folic acid,  iron, vitamin A&C)

Spinach: (antioxidants, potassium, iron, calcium, vitamin C)

Tomato: (beta carotene & vitamin C)

Lemon: (thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, iron, magnesium, fiber, Vitamin C &B6, calcium, potassium, copper)

Beet: (Folic acid, iron, calcium, potassium)

Broccoli: (beta carotene, vitamin C, calcium, iron, folic acid & chromium)

2 kiwi: (Fiber, Vitamin E, C, K, potassium, & copper)

Strawberries (Folate, potassium, fiber, Vitamin C, manganese)

Cucumber: (Vitamin A, C, K, pantothenic acid, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, manganese

Celery: (Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, K, C, A, pantothenic acid, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, manganese, folate)

2 Carrots: ( Beta carotene, Vitamin A&C, pectin, flourine, & potassium)

Sliver of ginger root: (Vitamin C, manganese, magnesium, copper, potassium, natural anti inflammatory)

In today's juice, the strongest flavors were definitely the lemon and the beet, followed closely by the greens (the celery, spinach, parsley, cilantro tend to just take an overall 'green' flavor when combined), then the cucumber and the sweetness of the strawberries. 

When you use just a small sliver of ginger root like I do, you don't taste it a whole lot. There may be a bit of bite from it but it won't over power it. It's really a nice way to get an awful lot of good minerals and vitamins!!