I love spicy food, and ever since I read somewhere that spicy food helps burn calories I just love it that much more!

One of my favorite spicy food items to cook with is fresh jalapenos, and I buy them by the dozens at the grocery store.

I tried growing them a couple of summer ago in containers at my house, but they didn’t grow really fast. Since I love to use dozens of them, it really didn’t work out because I was only getting two or three once in a while off of my plants. But there was a satisfaction of using my own.

I do try not to over use jalapenos when I’m cooking for someone, but will leave some chopped as a condiment on the side just in case, especially since everyone’s taste for spiciness varies.

The other night I decided to make chicken kabobs on the grill; and since I had a bagful of fresh jalapenos I decided to slice them right down the middle and stick them on the skewers with the peppers and onions and chicken.

Since I had already used a couple out of the bag a couple of days before and they weren’t that hot I decided to not even bother de-seeding the jalapenos, figuring most of the seeds (where a lot of the heat is) would fall out in the grill when I was cooking them.

I’ve noticed sometimes jalapenos can be really hot but other times they aren’t that spicy at all; this bag of peppers didn’t seem very spicy at all, so I went ahead and assembled my kabobs, seeds and all, with the chicken that I had marinated that day.

I ate two of them when they were done – they had a nice kick, but nothing that was too hot for me.

Later that evening my daughter came home from work, stripped everything off a few skewers and heated it up then dug in.

Now, did I mention that my jalapenos looked just like slices of green bell pepper? I didn’t say anything to her because, like me, she loves food the hotter the better. But I heard her say “oh!” and when I looked up she had tears streaming down her face. I was shocked and thought something was wrong – especially since it is not often she can’t speak. She finally managed to find her voice and all she could say was “hot1” while staring at her plate. Apparently some of the jalapenos retained a lot of seeds and she had gotten a bunch of them in her mouth. But she was a good sport when she could speak again.

But now I have gone back to de-seeding jalapenos, or at least removing more of the seeds for my dishes. The last thing I want is to render a dinner guest speechless, a least not in that way!

This week I have a few spicy dishes for you to try. But first, as always, here’s a really refreshing cocktail to help wash down some of the spiciness!

Frozen slush

2 cups white sugar

7 cups water

4 teabags

2 cups boiling water

1 12-oz. can frozen lemonade concentrate

1 12-oz. can frozen orange juice

2 cups gin

Put the water in a large saucepan and heat on high until boiling. Add sugar and stir until dissolved; set aside to cool. Place teabags in 2 cups boiled water, and let steep until desired strength is acquired.

In a large bowl, mix together sugar water, tea, lemonade and orange juice concentrate. Stir in the gin. Place in freezer-safe container and freeze overnight.

To serve, put several scoops in a large glass and fill with any clear carbonated beverage

Sweet & Spicy Jalapeno Poppers

6 jalapeno peppers

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 Tbsp. shredded cheddar cheese

6 uncooked bacon strips, halved

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 Tbsp. chili seasoning

Cut jalapeno in half lengthwise and remove seeds; set aside.

In a small bowl, mix cheeses until well blended. Spoon mixture into pepper halves. Wrap half a bacon strip around each pepper half.

Combine the brown sugar and chili seasoning and coat peppers with the mixture. Place in a greased baking pan and bake at 350 for 18 to 20 minutes until bacon is crisp.

Baked Stuffed Jalapenos

12 jalapeno peppers

1/4 cup minced onion

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

3/4 cup cream cheese

1 1/2 tsp. cumin

Pinch of salt

2 oz. shredded jack cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Slice the jalapenos lengthwise. Mix together all of the filling ingredients except the jack cheese. Pack the filling into the peppers and place jack cheese on top. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and peppers are cooked.

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