Tomatoes and Peppers

Our garden looks absolutley horrible. Being gone for 10 days certainly didn't help it any, but the weather here is so dry, that everything looks pretty rough. I did manage to bring in a small amount of tomatoes this weekend. We have hundreds of them on the vine that haven't fallen prey to blossom end rot yet, but I am not sure they will make it. They are still so green. Need to make some fried green tomatoes. Yum! I will just put this small amount up in the freezer. I did put up 13 small bags of chopped green peppers this weekend as well. I like putting those through my food processor and storing them in about 1/2 cup amounts. I do the same thing with onions. It makes sauteing them for sauces and dishes very simple. Pop out a couple of bags and you are good to go! The other item we have plenty of is banana peppers. They are similar to a weed in their growth process. They need little to no care and will grow anywhere in rampant amounts! I make a banana pepper mustard that is out of this world for dipping and for sandwiches and I've even used some in deviled eggs to give them a kick. I will include my recipe here in case you have banana peppers coming our your ears too! Enjoy.

Sweet or Hot Banana Pepper Relish

9-12 banana peppers cleaned and chopped

1 cup white vinegar

1 cup prepared mustard

3/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup honey

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp all purpose flour

1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp water

Cook the peppers in the vinegar for 5 minutes. Then add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Cook for about 10 minutes longer. You will need to stir frequently so that it doesn't stick to your pan. Let cool a bit and then put in containers. Store tightly sealed in refrigerator. This keeps very well. You could can it so that it could be stored on a pantry shelf or be given away as gifts.