Here’s a little pastel ACEO that I painted a while back. I remembered it when I started putting up all the jalapeno’s I’ve just recently picked. I have another pepper pastel painting (say that three times fast!) of some sweet havana’s. I remember now that I was going to paint a series of them. I think I may pick this back up soon, they would look nice in the kitchen, what do you think?

A sink full of hotties

Ichiwawa! I wanted to share with you a little recipe I just tried the other day. I’ve got three jalapeno plants in my garden this year and just picked about 13 pounds; I needed to do something with them.  I froze most of the peppers after slicing for easy toss-ins for eggs, soups, chili, grilled cheese sandwiches, etc. Then I canned about 4 pints to sit on the shelf and not take up any more freezer space, and finally I made 2 pints plus a little extra of the Candied Jalapenos which are terrifically sweet and hot. This recipe is so easy. These tasty little treats require no canning; they can sit in your fridge. But I don’t think they’ll sit there long! Here’s the recipe I got off a gardening website called VegetableGardener.com. Enjoy!

Candied Jalapeno’s

Ingredients

This recipe makes about two pints of peppers.

• 1 pound fresh jalapeno peppers
• 2 cups white vinegar*
• 3 cups sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt

Instructions

Be sure to wear kitchen gloves while working with hot peppers and don’t touch your eyes until the gloves are off. (not that I would know… ummm ahem…)

1. Wash peppers thoroughly and remove stems; discard peppers with soft spots or damage.
2. Remove seeds, if you prefer seed-free peppers. (I left seeds in.)
3. Slice into rounds about ¼-inch thick.
4. Combine vinegar, sugar and salt in a saucepan; bring to a boil and reduce heat.
5. Simmer mixture for about 6 minutes or until syrup starts to thicken; stir occasionally.
6. Raise temperature to medium, add pepper slices and cook, stirring, for an additional 5 minutes.
7. Remove mixture from heat and cool.
8. Spoon peppers into jars, top with syrup and fasten lids tightly.

Keep jars refrigerated. Peppers will keep in the fridge almost indefinitely, but they’re so tasty they probably won’t last that long.

*For a thicker syrup, use less vinegar

Make sure you use gloves to handle the peppers. Look at all those seeds! Leave some in for more heat. Dry them out and plant them next year, peppers are very easy to start from seed. See my seed starting escapades here.

They’re ready for their hot shower! I poured the hot vinegar mixture over these babies and then put on the lids then “canned” them using the inversion method – super easy and doesn’t require a canner.

Ahhhh… the fruits of my labor. Jalapeno’s for the freezer, pantry and fridge. Can’t beat that with a stick.

If you’re new to my blog and website have a look at my ‘About’ page in the menu at the top. I’m an artist – a painter mostly and an avid gardener. I paint a variety of subjects including birds, koi fish, my gardens, ponds and flowers as well as anything having to do with nature especially trees and tropical scenes. I also enjoy painting abstracts in the form of expressionism. If you’re interested in my art, I have a newsletter mailed about once a month that gives you special status for invitations, birthday greeting and more. Sign up here for it.

some of my paintings