A Kitchen Experiment

It all started with these:

2 pounds of mini red, yellow, and orange peppers for $3.49. I mean, how could I resist? 

You're right. I didn't even try.

Aren't they cute?!?! And oh my gosh - they are delicious. I think I've eaten about 7 of them so far today. Sweet and crunchy; I just ate them like apples. They taste like summer!

  And look at this nutrition label:

Did you see the fiber? Did you see the Vitamin C?!?!

So...

I was a little worried about using all of these adorable little peppers. I mean you can only eat so many like apples, right? Wrong. I'm pretty sure I could eat the whole bag in about 4 days or less. (Drat - I knew I should have bought two!!) Anyway, I used about 1/3 of the bag, around 14-15 baby peppers, in my weekly veggie chop.

And then the experiment began. I decided to stuff them...

First I cut the tops off and removed some of the veins and seeds. This was more about making room to fit as much stuffing inside them as possible. The seeds and veins are so tiny and tender that when I ate them out of the bag, I just bit right into them and didn't worry about eating a few seeds.

Then I decided to roast them in a hot pan a little. I thought this might give them a little character. You could certainly skip this step if you prefer. I left them crunchy, just a little charred. 

Like this.

Hmmm. With what shall I stuff these little cuties? How about:

1/2 cup fat free cream cheese

1/4 cup sharp cheddar, finely shredded

1/4 cup black beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup canned fiesta corn, drained

1 tsp Garlic and Herb Mrs Dash

1 tsp Southwest Chipotle Mrs Dash

1 tsp cilantro paste (I would have preferred fresh cilantro but didn't have any. I always have a tube of cilantro paste in the fridge for just such emergencies. Stuffing adorable baby peppers qualifies as an emergency, right?)

1/2 cup veggie chop (Yes, stuffing veggies with more veggies -- Makes sense to me!)

I gently folded all of these ingredients together and then after the peppers had cooled a little, I used a spoon to stuff as much filling as I could into each one.

Since this was an experiment, I really wasn't sure if my amounts were going to work out. I had prepped 25 little peppers and was able to fill all of them with about 1 tablespoon of filling leftover (which I spread on Wheat Thins so as not to waste it.)

And there you have it. A kitchen experiment win.

Now, if only I had a party to go to...


Can anyone say, "hors d'oeuvres for dinner"  ?