Plethora of Peppers

I have eleven bell pepper plants this year.

In some ways I have learned my lesson from previous years. In 2012 and 2013 I planted one red, one yellow, and four green bell peppers (there was a special on the four-pack at the garden center). I have learned that I don't care much for the green ones, or rather the bumper crop of greens that comes with that many plants.

So this year I bought one each of the red, yellow, orange, and green. And then I saw this in the seed catalog:

Sweet Rainbow Mix Peppers - Park Seed

I couldn't resist. I have seven plants from this, but in general you don't know which ones you have until they ripen and change color.

Which leads to my current plethora of peppers. Pecks of peppers. It's a pepper-palooza!

Here's Saturday's harvest:

That doesn't include the six other peppers already in the refrigerator, plus sections of three more from what I had sliced or diced up earlier in the week.

More are on the way. Here's a quick preview from the garden this afternoon. They taste better if they can mature (completely change color) on the plant, so these are several days away from picking.

Yellow

Red

Orange

Purple (matures green)

White (matures red)

Chocolate

Some I give away. Others I'm trying to cook and freeze. Any recipe that uses two or more peppers is fair game, even better if it uses more.

First it was home made pizzas with thinly sliced peppers and red onions. 

Then there was a grilled mix of peppers, mushrooms, and red onion that had been tossed with a teriyaki marinade.  Much easier to manage in a grill basket than on skewers.

Last week I made pork chops with peppers and onions. Probably won't do that one again, it was rather bland and I can't figure out a way to tweak it to make it better. 

Tonight I tried a recipe for one-pot lazy stuffed peppers. Quite tasty, good for using up those partial peppers, and looks like it will freeze well for lunches. I like stuffed bell peppers in concept, but I tend to get overwhelmed with ratio of pepper to filling. And who really wants to eat the same thing every day for a week when a single recipe makes 6 servings unless you really, really like it?

I'm eager to try this beef with peppers stir fry, especially since I loved the way the other beef stir fry recipes from this author/blogger have turned out. Actually, I've loved the way everything from this author/blogger has turned out.

And then there is my favorite basic chicken fajita recipe, though now after having made it a few times I have my little tweaks and adjustments (like adding fresh chopped cilantro, using three bell peppers, Mexican shredded cheese blend, etc.). Probably on the agenda for later in the week.