Physical touch, acts of service, quality time, words of affirmation, receiving gifts, yadda yadda. My love language is food. When my husband grills a steak for me and I can just eat it without having to lift a finger? That's love. When I want to show someone I love them? I make them their favorite meal. No matter which way you spin it, if you ask me, food equals love. So, I like to host dinners at my house for my loved ones, and when I do, I usually bust out some of my personal favorites to prepare. There's always one side dish that is met with fanfare no matter who we have at our table, and that is my stuffed mini sweet peppers.
You can find one-pound bags of mini sweet peppers at just about any grocery store, but Costco sells a bigger one-and-a-half pound bag for about $5.50. I like to get my peppers there because there's just a little more than enough in the bag than what I need to make this recipe, and I have fun using the leftover peppers in other recipes (more on that later).
To transform the peps, I slice them in half lengthwise and remove any seeds. Then I coat their little pepper bellies with garden vegetable cream cheese. Important: Do not skimp on the cream cheese. Live your life. I like to use the garden vegetable variety because it's got more depth in flavor than original cream cheese, but I'm sure other flavored cream cheese varieties like jalapeño or chive and onion would also work well.
After I load those babies up with cream cheese, I sprinkle dried chives on top and finish them off with a healthy coating of shredded pepper jack cheese. Then I pop them in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, broiling them for a minute or two at the end until the cheese on top is slightly golden brown. Sometimes, when I'm feeling particularly frisky, I'll sauté garlic and shallots in a little bit of butter and mix them in with the cream cheese for an extra bite.
I spend roughly $9.50 for the peppers, pepper jack, and cream cheese, and I still have leftovers of all three ingredients to play around with. For the peppers, I love to cut them in little rings and sauté them with Brussels sprouts or add them to a stir fry or breakfast scramble. They really are as versatile as they are tasty, and I'm a huge fan of adding color to my table (hence the bright blue plates). Next time you walk past the mini sweet peppers at Costco, remember this recipe and give them a try. I promise you'll be met with a flurry of compliments and a table of happy bellies.
Photo credit: Rachel Schneider / CheapismStuffed Mini Sweet Peppers
Ingredients:
- 1 pound mini sweet peppers
- 4 ounces garden vegetable cream cheese
- 1 cup pepper jack cheese, shredded
- Dried chives
Directions:
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.
- Slice the peppers in half lengthwise and remove seeds.
- Spread cream cheese inside the peppers and place on a foil-lined cookie sheet.
- Sprinkle dried chives on the peppers to taste.
- Top the peppers with shredded pepper jack cheese and bake for 20 minutes.
- Broil for the last minute of cooking until the cheese is slightly golden brown.
- Let them rest for a couple of minutes so you don't melt your mouth with hot cream cheese, then serve!
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