Nothing says good food like an empty bowl, which is precisely what I have to offer you in the photo department. By the time it dawned on me to photograph the delicious incident that occured before dinner last night, it was already too late.

In the frenzy of summer’s bounty, specifically the motherload of BK Farmyards mixed hot peppers, I put up 14 pints of hot pickled peppers last October. Granted, I did return most of the finished product to Stacey and Bee, garden goddesses who head-up the org. They needed their surplus peppers pickled to give to their volunteers as thank you gifts; I wanted some local, organic peppers but was low on cash. Win, win for us both.

Maybe you’re like me, relatively new to all this ‘put up the harvest’ business. In the heat of the canning season, no one really outlined what one might do with pints-ful of hot pickled peppers (possibly because they won’t be ready to use for at least a month after you make them). Even with just three jars on hand, I’m still scrambling for ideas on how to incorporate them into my eat-at-home life.

Appetizers immediately come to mind over here. I’ve been slicing the peppers and dotting nachos with (albeit, formerly) local veggies, feeling self-sufficient and exceedingly proud of myself. If you don’t find yourself in the situation of needing to use up a bunch of hot pickled peppers then proceed with guacamole-making as usual or grab a can from the market to try this little twist on traditional guac.

Spring Guacamole

serves 2 (or 1 hungry girl, ahem)

Mash the following together with a fork:

1 medium-sized, ripe avocado

1 large clove garlic, minced as finely as you can

1 small lime, juiced

1 whole pickled jalapeno (or hotter, gasp) serrano pepper, chopped as coarsely as your heat palate can handle

pinch of salt & ground pepper to taste

Note: If you didn’t catch this already, this is not a first date kind of appetizer (with all that raw garlic in there) unless you both eat it with equal voracity. (Happy smooching.)

I trust that you dears will also enlighten me as to the many other wonderful uses for hot pickled peppers in the comments section. I look forward to reading them.