Pimento Cheese-Stuffed Peppers

Is your mouth watering yet? Because this post's promises are all going to come true...

While at the Atherton Market last night, I ran into a new (to me) vendor, Coto Family Farms, that had an amazing variety of peppers as well as herbs, squash, tomatoes and gourds. They have your standard bell peppers but they were also selling some beautiful anaheims, seranos, jalapenos and pimentos which gave me the idea for something I've never tried from scratch: pimento cheese.

So with my trusty smart phone, I looked up then and there a recipe for southern pimento cheese. I found one that not only uses pimento peppers but also jalapenos. Since just down the aisle Queen City Pantry (formerly Simply Local) sells amazing cheddar cheese from Ashe County Cheese, I knew I had about half of what I needed at my fingertips before walking out of the market. I also had the requisite amount of my homemade mayo which I make from Windy Hill Farm eggs, olive oil and lemon which gave this pimento cheese a real citrusy kick. Below is the recipe for the pimento cheese but I then stuffed some halved anaheim peppers and baked them at 350 for about 10 minutes to soften the outside. This was half of our meal but would also be great as an appetizer.

Southern Style Pimento Cheese (v)
2 cups shredded medium cheddar cheese
8 oz cream cheese
1 pimento pepper, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
1/2 cup of mayo
1/4 teaspoon of each of the following: garlic powder,  ground cayenne pepper, celery salt

1. Combine all in a large bowl.
2. Using a hand mixer, blend for 20-30 seconds or until the cream cheese is completely mixed in.
3. Serve immediately and keep refrigerated.

I served the stuffed anaheims with a sliced tomato from the Lomax Incubator Farm and fresh salsa and chips made with more tomatoes from Lomax. I then made a tomato and pimento cheese sandwich for lunch the next day.