I think you can grow peppers in Kansas, but you might need to adjust when or where or how you grow them. I'm not an expert at this you should ask on the vegetable forum or maybe the texas gardener's forum and you will find people who grow lots and lots of different kinds of peppers, there is also an oriental vegetable forum they might know your specific type. From what I understand, blossom drop in tomatoes and peppers is caused by: -lack of pollination-if you grew them inside or you didn't have any bees around you need to shake the plants or tap the flowers to get the plants to pollinate so they will make peppers -not enough light-I think they need like 8 hours of full sunshine on them -or too much nitrogen (If you fertilized too much) -temperatures too hot or too cold, will fall off if daytime is above 90 F, or night time below 60F or night time above 75 F-I had this problem with my tomatoes this year, it was above 100F for so long that a lot of flowers fell off before the temperatures finally got cool enough for tomatoes.

The jalapeno stuffed ones would work. Linda C

Lots of good advice above. I've been into heart healthy cooking for a long time since heart disease at a young age runs in my family. That being the case it's sometimes hard to get interested in a lot of the recipes I find here - unfortunately. Here are some of the things I do: Very limited qty of red meat but I do have it once in a while. I love a good steak on the grill but where I might have eaten an entire NY strip in the past I now have maybe 1/4 - 1/3 of a steak. I never use hamburger any more - I substitute the leanest ground turkey. I eat a lot more fish than I used to and have found lots of interesting recipes for it. Pretty much avoid refined white stuff and substitute whole grains as much as possible. More vegetables and fruit - always have things on hand for snacking Low fat cooking - for example I'd never cook something with cream. I use skim milk in most everything - light coconut milk in some asian dishes - evaporated skim milk. Simple, unadulterated foods - not in sauces, etc. I now use more interesting salt free spice blends - Penzey's is my friend. I agree with the person who above said to try totally new things - don't just try to make low fat/low salt versions of the old stuff. It will likely be disappointing. I've discovered so many amazing flavors that come through when foods are not loaded down with salt, cream, butter and cheese. There are especially interesting foods and flavors from other parts of the world. I love Cooking Light - it's the first place I look for something new to try - love the online search capability though I also get the magazine. I know I'm not going to discover a great recipe only to find it laden with butter, cream and bacon. Good-luck - consider it a cooking adventure!

Amy, I always plant sweet bells in Spring but you probably could plant in mid-summer for fall. I haven't tried that. I'd rather have the sweet bell plants large, mature and ready to explode into a riot of blooms as soon as the Autumn weather cools off to the appropriate level. I've always felt like bells planted at mid-summer might not be as large or bear as heavily as those planted in Spring. Katie, You can make the famous Garden Web/Harvest Forum recipe for "Annie's Salsa" with ReaLemon or ReaLime juice substituted for the vinegar. Sometimes I make it with 1/3 vinegar, 1/3 ReaLemon, 1/3 ReaLime, but you can use either vinegar, ReaLemon or ReaLime or any combination thereof as long as you use the proper amount. It is an approved substitution for that specfic recipe. The reason ReaLemon and ReaLime are specifically listed is because they consistently test at the proper pH for use as a vinegar substitute in canning, while store brands of lemon and lime juice often test at a lower pH that would make them unsafe to use as a vinegar substitute. Here's a thread with the Annie's Salsa recipe that includes Malna's notes, including the note about using bottled lemon or lime juice. I don't remember if this thread has the explanation about ReaLemon or ReaLime being the approved bottled substitute or if that is in another Annie's Salsa recipe thread (as there are many, many threads about this very popular salsa). I can at least 200 jars of Annie's Salsa a year, and never make it with 100% vinegar, now that we know we can use bottle ReaLemon and ReaLime. We give it away as Christmas presents and our friends beg for more of it year-round. Yes, it is that good! Annie's Salsa Recipe and Notes I also roast and freeze tons of peppers, especially jalapenos, to use in cooking in the non-gardening season when I don't have fresh peppers. Rebecca, I grow pimentoes every now and then, but not really often. A few pimentoes go a long way at our house. Dawn