Doesn't Monday just make you want to punch somebody sometimes?? I recently had a Monday that defines having a "case of the Mondays," and I almost didn't survive it. Alright, that's a bit dramatic, but seriously, Monday.  You're coming off that relaxing high, spending time with family, doing things on your "to-do" list, eating PANCAKES for breakfast and such, and then all of a sudden Monday morning comes around and its back to the grind.  I'm lucky in that I really love my job a lot, but sometimes you just wake up on the wrong side of the bed, and no amount of awesomeness you encounter that day is going to change the black cloud hanging over your head. 

I went through my whole Monday with a "woe is me" attitude (PITY PARTY OF ONE PLEASE), until I last minute salvaged it by inventing my Paleo Chocolate Chip Mug Cookie, and all was right with the world.  I normally don't encourage emotional eating, but who am I kidding...I do it more often than I care to admit, especially during quarantine because QUARANTINE.  But that's my take on Mondays in case you were wondering.

Wow, what an opening that has absolutely nothing to do with this sweet little recipe of mine.  I feel like sometimes when I sit down to write a blog post that I just kind of free associate and let my mind determine what needs to be said, and apparently I really needed to vent about Mondays.  In fact, I'd be happy if Monday was no longer on the calendar, but then I guess poor little Tuesday would eventually get the same tarnished reputation, and we'd just have to continue removing days of the week until all that's left is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday...which come to think of it, doesn't really sound to bad to me!  Whose with me??  Can we get a Global Summit on this decision? Kinda like daylight savings time, or OPEC or something..

A big ol' ANYWAYS, lets get to the meat and potatoes of this post, or in this case, the goat cheese and sweet peppers.  One of my favorite get together appetizers are bacon wrapped, cream cheese stuffed jalapenos.  I could literally eat a million of those things in one sitting, and the spicier the better, in my humble opinion.  My husband, on the other hand, absolutely detests anything spicy, which is crazy to me because he's got major Spanish roots...it's like a travesty in his family not to like spicy.  I guess marrying me makes up for it, because girl can handle some heat on her peppers.

I really love those little jalapeno poppers but A) not everyone likes spicy and B) cream cheese isn't really a gut friendly dairy option. Delicious? Yes. Gut-friendly? Nope.  So my creative little mind came up with the perfect alternative...sweet peppers and goat cheese..WHAT??  So yes, I'm using goat cheese, and no goat cheese is not paleo, so we're gonna label this as a PRIMAL recipe.  If you can tolerate the occasional goat cheese, then you will absolutely LOVE these little dudes.  The sweet peppers that I used, I get in a bag from Costco, and they're basically mini bell-peppers that aren't spicy AT ALL--in turn they're perfect for those of you who don't love burning your tongue off when you eat. 

The beautiful part about this recipe though is you can also use jalapenos if you'd prefer to keep some kick..the beauty of simple recipes, they can be personalized so easily!  One word on this recipe, you'll only use about half of the goat cheese mixture that you make, but I'm keeping the amounts as is because the rest is such a great dip!  You can use vegetable slices, plantain or corn tortilla chips to gobble it up!  If you want to just make enough to fill the peppers you have, then just halve the recipe.

Mango Goat Cheese Stuffed Sweet Peppers

Ingredients:

• 10 sweet peppers, halved with seeds and stems removed

• 1 whole mango, peeled and diced

• 2  whole garlic cloves, peeled

• 1/4 of a large red onion

• 3 tbsp fresh basil

• 10.5 oz goat cheese

• 7 slices of bacon, cut into thirds

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a food processor combine mango, garlic, red onion, basil and goat cheese.  Blend until all ingredients are mixed well.

3. Spread goat cheese mixture into the hollow of the sweet pepper halves.

4. Wrap a slice (1/3) of bacon around each pepper, securing bacon with a toothpick.

5. Ideally, place a rack on a baking pan and then place the peppers on top of the rack for baking.

6. Bake for 25 minutes.  If bacon does not appear to be done, you can place under the broiler to crisp things up for 1-2 minutes.

7. Remove and let cool.  ENJOY!