Thursday, March 28, 2013

Stuffed Poblano Peppers



When growing up, I spent a good amount of time in New Mexico -- my grandparents and extended family lived there (we were a military family and had moved away). We visited as often as possible. As a result of this connection, I learned to LOVE green chilies - on most everything. Burgers, eggs, etc., Well, my grown-up palette has decided that even better than green chilies is Poblanos. 


My favorite way of fixing/eating them is STUFFED. Okay, so I know I just did a post about stuffed pork chops and recently stuffed chicken breasts -- stuffed must be on my mind.....hum, what can I stuff next?, lol.

While these may seem a tad fussy, really they are not. My preferred stuffing is a cheese mixture but they could be stuffed with about anything that you prefer.
Before stuffing you'll need to roast and peel your Poblanos. Now I always have this great idea that I should do up tons at one time and then freeze them for future stuffing opportunities but that never really seems to happen. There are several techniques for roasting -- summertime and I do it on the gas grill but winter I tend to do it right in my oven. If you've never roasted peppers, here is a tutorial. Once you're peppers are roasted and peeled, I slit them down the side and carefully remove the seeds and membranes from inside, leaving the stem intact -- that is my fussiness though and the stem serves no purpose but to look cool and you can remove it if you prefer.
I served these recently to the special man in my life -- he liked them. He is good like that and likes most everything I make AND is even game for eating low carb BUT I think he especially liked these -- he is still talking about them!

Stuffed Poblano Peppers

6 Poblanos, roasted, seeded and slit for stuffing
12 ounces cream cheese (1-1/2 packages), softened
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, divided (or cheese of choice)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine cream cheese with 1/2 the shredded cheddar cheese. Cream together and divide into 6 equal portions. Stuff each pepper with the cheese mixture (hands work best for this, you can kind of shape the cheese into a log and easily stuff into the peppers). Close pepper over cheese and fasten with a toothpick. Lay each stuffed pepper in a baking dish with toothpick up (you can easily find to remove them this way). Pour cream over peppers and top with cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes until liquid is bubbly and the cheese on top is melted. Serves 6.

Each serving: 421 calories, 4.48g carbs, 1.1g fiber = 3.38g net carbs