Jalapeños, Friends and Zombies

I wish I could tell you that I had a massive garden and I grew my own veggies and at this time of year I will be writing all kinds of articles about the fantastic fresh product I am pulling from my Garden.

Sadly that is not the case. When God graced our family with green thumbs I was somehow left off the list. Growing up my Father had a garden that in today’s world would have won awards been featured in magazines. Back in the 70’s he would have people stop randomly and comment how wonderful it all looked. We would give away what seemed like 100’s of pumpkins in the fall. Back than it was awful as a kid to have to eat fresh veggies all the time broccoli, beans of all kinds, eggplant,zucchini, green onions, rhubarb, raspberries, tomatoes all different kinds of peppers. Oh the horror of another plate of homemade eggplant parmesan.

Now as an adult who loves all the fresh veggies out there and when the Zombie Apocalypse comes will have to survive on canned veggies and dehydrated onions. I would give anything to have the green thumb he had or have the thumb of my mother and sister who each year plant more new and exciting things in their gardens. They also both have homes filled with lovely green plants. I have 3 plants and I say a prayer over them everyday and apologize that they are stuck here with me instead of the lush lands of a green thumbed Jones.

So with full disclosure  any time that you see me working with fresh fruits and veggies I either bought them at a farmers market or in the case of todays post I have been given a wonderful gift to play with. As I think this thru I may have done a smart thing in life as I have surrounded myself with people who do have green thumbs and who are capable of growing things so for the Zombie Apocalypse I may not be so bad off after all!

That said I have a bunch of lovely Jalapeños I need to do something with before they all go to rot. I toyed with making Jalapeño Poppers but there is no way I can eat that many poppers, well there is but that would not be good for me and my belly fat. I thought about hanging them and drying them in bunches for decoration but that is boring and I would not get to eat them. I could create a cocktail using their juices but all that testing of drinks would make this article very delayed and written with a hang over which I am not all that fond of. Drying them in the oven and pulverizing them into powder would be fun if it were the middle of winter but who want to turn the oven on in August.

Instead of fighting the 100 day old veggie zombie in the dead of winter I am going to clean the jalapeños  and freeze them for use thru-out the year until I can get another crop from a loving green thumbed friend.

Keep in mind that freezing many veggies in the summer is a great way to have some freshness in your foods in the middle of winter when the only fresh items at the grocery store are something from the far away land of Venezuela that looks to be 100 days old and you just know it will be in your home for less than an hour before sprouting green legs and walking off the counter to the trash bin.

The following process works great for Jalapeños, Green Onions and any kind of pepper I have done Red, Green and Banana Peppers this way.

Prepping the peppers..I always Have a box of rubber surgical gloves around the house. They are great to have in your Zombie Apocalypse medical bag but you will at this point in time get more use out of them in the kitchen.

Warning Warning!! Jalapeños can be hot and their juice can make parts of your body feel like it is  on fire if you touch juice to any part of flesh. Do not make out with your Boyfriend or Girlfriend during or after cutting Jalapeños until you have throughly cleaned up. The burn is something they or you will not soon forget!!

This is super easy.  Take a cookie sheet line it with plastic wrap. Do this before you put the rubber gloves on or you will be cursing my name. Put on gloves, Clean and slice all the peppers length wise. Cut off stems and clean out seeds. I do this over a plastic bag in the sink for easy clean up.

Lay the peppers on the cookie sheet, freeze at least for 4 hours. I did these for 8 while I was at work.

Pop on another pair of gloves and plop those now frozen Jalapeños into small freezer bags. I do 3-4 peppers wrapped together in plastic wrap than put into the freezer bag. Stick the bags back in your freezer and they are ready for use sometime down the road.

#Jalapeños #TrippingVittles #Freezingveggies