2018 Garden is BOOMING!

The above photo was taken shortly after we planted.

The harvest began with green and wax beans on May 18th.

Banana Peppers on May 19th.

1 Cherry Tomato on the 23rd.

In just TWO WEEKS, we have harvested:

Beans:  5 GALLONS

Banana Peppers:  43 of 'em

Cherry Tomatoes:  48 of 'em

(Dom's 2 hay bales didn't work out, so no big tomatoes this year.)

Pretty impressive for a small garden, huh?

**On a side note:  Since the 23rd of this month, our Blueberry Bushes have produced 10 Quarts already!

Gardens May 13, 2018

I cannot get over how wonderful Hay Bale Gardening is!  My tomatoes are planted in 2 hay bales.  I surrounded the bales with green beans and wax beans.  They're very happy.

Dom's banana peppers are flourishing in the soil.

I didn't bother taking a picture of his 2 hay bales.  His tomatoes are pathetic.  They're alive but wimpy.

I bought my 2 bales at a local feed/seed joint.  Cheap.

He procrastinated.  The only bales that he could find were "Premium" hay bales at the Tractor Center.  $$$$$   These things were so dense that we had difficulty planting.  I think that the roots are having problems growing.

So... we'll have plenty of cherry tomatoes, cheese and onion stuffed banana peppers wrapped with bacon and beans!

Hot Stuffed Banana Pepper Pasta

We have a never-ending supply of both mild and hot banana peppers.  I made this yesterday for Dom's 7th "birthday".  It was a pain in the neck stuffing the peppers, but worth it. Delicious.  Very flavorful.

INGREDIENTS
1 lb sweet Italian sausage
2 T olive oil
2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
12 banana peppers, cleaned of seeds and ribs
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon oregano
¼ teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
½ pound pasta cooked
grated cheese (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Spray your baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Stuff your banana peppers with the sausage. If the sausage is in casings, take them off to stuff the peppers. If you have left over sausage, shape into small meatball bites.
Slice the banana peppers in a few pieces and make sure the sausage is in every piece if possible.
Add your stuffed peppers, excess sausage, tomatoes, spices and olive oil to your baking dish and toss so that everything is mixed well.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the sausage is fully cooked.
In the meantime cook your pasta.
Once the peppers are baked, add to your cooked pasta and serve with grated cheese if you wish.
Also delicious over zucchini noodles if you are gluten free or Paleo.
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Tomorrow morning, we're off to Slidell to meet with our Oncologist to discuss the recent bone marrow biopsy.

LINK

Our Favorite Stuffed Banana Peppers

Hi gang.  Had to share this with you guys.

Every year, we have an abundance of banana peppers.  Both sweet (for Dom) and hot (my favorite).

This is our favorite way to make 'em....

Cut your peppers like this

Mix together sharp cheddar and minced onion

Stuff 'em

Wrap with bacon, secure with toothpicks, then throw them in a 350 oven until bacon starts to firm-up  (about an hour in my toaster oven)

Broil until crispy