This was a real quick dinner I threw together tonight.

Man, how I love Mexican food! And this was REAL filling! 2 hours later and I'm STILL stuffed. Maybe I should declare this makes FOUR servings! LOL I served it with a guacamole salad. If you're in Maintenance, a serving of refried beans would be GREAT with this dish.

I just love chile rellenos, but I don’t like all the fuss of actually stuffing them. So I just make the dish up in a layered casserole. Tastes exactly the same, but it’s much less trouble to put together. My last similar recipe was with beef. This is how I make this dish with chicken. This recipe is Induction friendly and Primal diners who eat cheese can also enjoy this dish. It would not be suitable for Paleo followers.

INGREDIENTS:

3 small poblano peppers (mine weighed 2-2.5 oz. each)
12 oz. skinless, boneless chicken breasts, chopped into bite-size pieces
2 T. olive oil
2 oz. onion, sliced
½ tsp. dried guajillo chile, seeded and chopped fine (optional)
¼ tsp. dried ancho chile powder (optional)
¼ tsp. chili powder (use ½ tsp. if guajillo and ancho above are omitted)
¼ tsp. garlic powder
3/4 c. Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chiles, solids only
¼ c. cilantro, chopped
6 oz. Monterrey Jack cheese, grated

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 450º. Roasting your peppers will make them milder and sweeter, so don’t bypass this step. Cut tops off poblano peppers and remove seed cluster. Cut in halves, lay the halves on a non-stick baking sheet and roast in 450º oven for about 15-20 minutes, turning once during roasting. Remove and cool. Lower oven to 350º. Peel tough skin gently off the peppers. While they are roasting, heat oil in non-stick skillet. Saute onion until tender. Add chicken and saute until meat is no longer pink. Add all remaining ingredients except the cheese. Simmer 3-4 minutes for flavors to meld together. Lay the skinned poblano pepper pieces in the bottom of 3 individual casserole dishes (or you can use one larger casserole dish if you prefer. Top the peppers in each serving dish with 1 spoon of the chicken filling. Spread 1/3 of the cheese over the chicken filling in each dish. Place the remaining chicken filling evenly in the dish(es). Top with the remaining cheese. Pop into a 350º oven for about 20 minutes or until bubbly and the cheese is melted. Serve at once with a nice guacamole salad (and if you are in Pre-Maintenance or Maintenance, this is nice with a ½ c. of heated refried beans).

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 3 servings, each contains:

547 calories
35 g fat
7.70 g carbs, 2.23 g fiber, 5.47 g NET CARBS
47.7 g protein
541 mg potassium
1194 mg sodium
13% RDA Viatmin A, 54% B6, 15% B12, 67% C, 13% E, 12% copper, 22% iron, 12% magnesium, 104% niacin, 37% phosphorous, 15% riboflavin, 11% thiamin and 16% zinc