As we’ve been slowly getting all situated in our new house, we’ve begun venturing out more and exploring our new surroundings. Although we are only 30 minutes away from our old house, it feels like more than that in many ways. One of those ways is all the new shops and resources we find at every turn.
This weekend, I was super excited to check out our local farmer’s market. There was a farmer’s market fairly close to us at our old house, but it was always significantly lacking on the fresh produce front. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when we pulled up to the new farmer’s market and saw booth after booth overflowing with fresh, local produce. Walking up and down the aisles was heavenly and we saw so many wonderful fresh fruits and veggies that we just could not resist.
Great, but what does that have to do with this blog, right? Well, hopefully I will be posting loads of recipes over the next few weeks that are just bursting with fresh, seasonal produce. Also, I’ve decided that I need to push myself a bit outside of my comfort zone and try some new veggies with the family. We do a great job of having variety in our fruits, but our vegetables tend to be the same things over and over again.
Now that I have this amazing resource just a few miles away, I plan to change all that. And I’ll be sharing all the recipes I try and which veggies make the cut and which do not. It should be interesting and I’m looking forward to the challenge. (Suggestions welcome, if you have any!)
In the meantime, I’m looking forward to sharing lots of “Fresh From The Farmer’s Market” recipes with you.
One of my favorite purchases this weekend was a large container of jalapeno peppers. I’m planning to make some homemade salsa and to chop and freeze the rest. I also wanted to make a batch of stuffed jalapeno peppers. But I wasn’t sure how those would go over with the kids. So, I decided to come up with a twist of stuffed jalapenos that we could enjoy for dinner while still introducing the kids to that flavor. These were a hit and I’m looking forward to making them frequently in the future. I think they’d be a great option for entertaining also.
Stuffed Jalapeno Chicken Rolls
- 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 1-2 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeds and membranes removed, finely diced
- 1 t. salt
- 1/2 t. garlic powder
- 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenderloins, pounded flat
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 3 T. melted butter
- 1 c. breadcrumbs
1. In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, diced jalapenos, salt and garlic powder. Use immediately or refrigerate for a while to allow the flavors to combine.
2. Spread some cream cheese-jalapeno mixture down the center of each piece of chicken.
3. Roll up tightly and secure with a toothpick. Season each roll with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Dip the chicken in the melted butter and then roll in the bread crumbs. Repeat until done. Place in a casserole dish and bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes, depending on the thickness of the chicken, until fully cooked.
Confession time ~ I used 4 jalapeno peppers when I made this and it turned out way too hot. We all ended up scraping out some of our peppers. But after that, we really enjoyed it. My husband pointed out that since the peppers are cut and combined with the cream cheese, the hotness carries all throughout the filling. So we decided that less is definitely more and that 1 to 2 peppers would be plenty to still get that same awesome flavor without the mouth-scorching heat.
We have a CSA and have the same situation each summer. Last summer we had more kohlrabi at this time of year than we knew what to do with. And we ended the summer with peppers, both sweet and hot, galore. I am still trying to use up peppers in my freezer.
Glad you found a good source for fresh produce. It tastes better when it’s fresh….I’m sure you will all love it!
We go to our local farmer’s market every week, and at the beginning I tried to get at least one new thing every week. I found out that there were so many things we liked a lot, but didn’t know only because we’d never tried them before!
Also, I signed up for your meal plan awhile back (June 20th, I believe) and then sent you an email awhile after that. I’m wondering if you received those things?
I’m always looking for fun Friday meals, and this was amazing! I’m surprised about how true it was to jalapeno popper flavors with so few ingredients. I ran into the opposite problem that you had, though–I used one huge jalapeno, and it was so mild that it was almost like a green bell pepper. You just never know about the heat levels until you taste them. I considered adding something to bump up the heat, but I also didn’t want to tamper with the base flavor too much. I did use a half teaspoon of onion powder in addition to the garlic powder, and I cut the salt in half. Next time, I think I’ll use only 1/4 teaspoon of salt. When I was assembling them, I thought the 4 ounces of cream cheese seemed scant, but it was the perfect balance. Loved these! Can’t wait to have them again!
I’ve made this a couple of times for dinner and it is always a hit!