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June 4, 2013 Food Recipes

Chicken Jalapeno Poppers

CB-sponsored-post-white-600There are some things I really love about where we live, and one of them is that there's a Lucky Super Market just a few blocks away. When it's a gorgeous day, we often walk as a family to the store to our shopping together, and with weather like we had this last weekend, it as the perfect time! I needed to pick up a few things because I had an idea for turning one of our favorite junk foods into a more heart healthy version, and tailgating in honor of the #TSM350  race up in Sonoma seemed like the perfect excuse! You can see our whole shopping excursion album here on G+.

Heart Healthy Recipe - Lucky Super Market

One not-so-good snack that I love is jalapeno poppers. Deep fried cream cheese with the spicy kick of a pepper? What's not to love? Besides all that fat and calories, of course. We've been doing a lot of experimenting lately, in our efforts to eat healthier, and I really loved the idea of making these into something that wasn't quite so junky.

Rather than deny myself the deliciousness, I just made a few changes, and turned them into Grilled Chicken Jalapeno Poppers instead! Yum. Our version takes them from the 230 calorie per serving frozen ones, to about 175 calories (per 3 poppers). And since we added chicken instead of just cheese, so they could even be an entree, since the protein is there!

When you're choosing jalapenos for this, you'll want to pick the biggest ones you can, to really get the best bites (or should I say “pop”?) out of it.

Heart Healthy Recipe - Lucky Super Market

The rest of the shopping list is pretty straightforward; one thing is to pick up neufchatel cheese instead of cream cheese; it has about 30% fewer calories, and tastes pretty much the same. It takes incredibly little sacrifice to replace that ingredient without really sacrificing anything! I do not, however, recommend using reduced fat shredded cheese. It just doesn't melt as well as the regular stuff. But with the other calories we're savings, it's pretty much a wash in the end.

Heart 2 Health Stuffed Jalapenos #TSM350

What you need:

  • 10 jalapeno peppers, sliced lenghtwise, seeds and pith (the white stuff) scraped out
  • Disposable gloves (I alwayse wear gloves when working with peppers! Have you ever wiped your eye after cutting jalapenos?)
  • 1-1.5 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 8 oz. neufchatel cheese
  • 2/3 c. shredded cheese (Cheddar, or a mixed variety, your choice!) [ 1/3 for the filling, 1/3 for sprinkling on top]
  • Mexican Seasoning
  • Salt & Pepper

Season and cook the whole chicken breasts. We grilled them because we always grill whenever we can, and they're more delicious that way! Boiling works too, as does baking. We just used a little salt and pepper on our breasts before cooking.

While still warm, shred the chicken.

I'm hoping you've seen the Pinterest sensation that is the “Kitchen Aid chicken trick,” but in case you haven't, allow me to show you!

Heart Healthy #TSM350 Shredded Chicken

It totally works. That's about 30-40 seconds on medium speed. (And it's LIFECHANGING!)

So, shred your chicken. Leave it a little chunkier than you might think, because it'll shred more in the next step:

Add the Mexican seasoning and the cheeses, and turn the mixer back on. You want to be careful here, because it can turn into chicken paste pretty quickly if you let it!

Now your filling is ready to go into your peppers! I find using my gloved hands is the easiest, most efficient way to get this done… Just put a pinchful or so and pack it down. You can mound it up a little above the pepper's edges if you want, that's fine.

Heart Healthy #TSM350 33

Now, if you're going somewhere with these babies, you can stop here. Take your shredded cheese with you, and top them right before you put them on the grill… makes the whole thing less messy and SUPER easy to transport!

Once you're near the grill, it's easy to sprinkle a little cheese on top and put them on a hot grill for 6-7 minutes.

The outsides of the peppers get charred, but that's part of what makes them DELICIOUS!

So next time you're craving these from your local quick service restaurant, you can throw these together instead!


8 Comments

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Comments

  1. Jackie says

    June 5, 2013 at 10:52 am

    You changed the look of your blog! Looks good!

    These sound pretty good! Now if I could just get my husband to eat them without complaining that they’re too spicy all would be well.

    Reply
    • Lizz says

      June 5, 2013 at 2:34 pm

      Yes, new look! I’m pretty happy with it, but am still tweaking.

      If you make sure to get ALL of the white bits and the seeds out, and then rinse them, they aren’t that spicy at all!

      Reply
  2. Chelsea @ Someday I'll Learn says

    June 13, 2013 at 10:35 pm

    Mmm, poppers are one of my guilty pleasures. This looks amazing!

    Reply
    • Lizz says

      June 15, 2013 at 7:47 am

      They’re SO delish! I had like 5 of them and a big salad and called it dinner.

      Reply
  3. Rita O'Neal says

    June 17, 2013 at 12:37 am

    I love jalapenos! I’ll have to try this. Thanks for the chicken trick. I don’t have a Kitchen Aid but a more ‘frugal’ version. lol I’ll have to try it.

    Reply
    • Lizz says

      June 18, 2013 at 1:54 pm

      I think as long as it has that paddle-type attachment instead of beaters, it would work.

      Reply
  4. Camille says

    August 26, 2014 at 1:43 pm

    Do you think you could bake these in the oven? We don’t have a grill! But they look relish!

    Reply
    • Lizz says

      August 27, 2014 at 9:27 am

      I don’t see why not! I think low and slow would be better than high heat for less time though, so the peppers get well cooked, because raw jalapeno is NOT delicious! LOL
      Let me know how it turns out!

      Reply

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Welcome, I'm so glad you're here! Thing number one, I'm tall. I've been told I should have a warning on my blog, so here it is! I am taller in real life than I appear on the internet. Want to know more than this "short" version? Go here to read more about me and my family, and for links to some of my favorite posts.
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