Spicy Stuffed Peppers

Whenever I make these, I always wonder why I don't make them more often. They are so tasty, a great way to hide veggies & very versatile - just throw in whatever you have on hand!

I forgot to take pictures while I was working, so you only get this one of the finished plate:
Makes 4 stuffed peppers
Per serving (1 pepper serving size)
Calories: 285
Fat: 13g
Carbs: 23g
Protein: 27g
Fiber: 2g
Sodium: 210mg

Ingredients:
2 TBS butter (or EVOO)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1 chili in adobo (or more if you like spicy!), minced
1/2 cup sweet potato, shredded
1/2 cup OJ (sounds weird, but hang with me)
1 TBS worcestershire
1 TBS brown sugar
2 chicken breasts
1 c shredded cheese
4 peppers (I used poblano, but you could use bell, anaheim, cubanelle...anything big enough to stuff!)

Garnish with 2 TBS light sour cream (adds 40 calories, 2.5g fat, 2g protein and 25mg sodium) and 1/4 cup guacamole or avocado (adds 100 calories, 10g fat & 6g carbs)

Method:
Preheat oven to 350F now if you are using poblanos. You will want to pre-cook them to get out some of the heat. I cut off the tops, de-seed & de-membrane them & stand them up in a casserole dish to bake for 15-20 minutes before stuffing later.

1. Brown the butter in a skillet over medium/high heat. Once brown, switch to medium heat and add the garlic, onion, chilies and sweet potato. Saute veggies for 3-5 minutes.

2. Once the veggies are tender add the orange juice, worcestershire sauce and brown sugar. Stir until everything is combined. Then add chicken breasts and cook, covered, for about 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

3. Transferthe chicken breasts out of the pan and crank up the heat to reduce the sauce/veggies, 3-5 minutes more.

4. Meanwhile shred or chop the chicken into bite size. Once the sauce has reduced, return chicken to pan and stir around to coat.

5. Transfer chicken mixture to a bowl and refrigerate, covered, for 30-45 minutes until cool (if you are in a rush you can probably skip this step, but I think it makes it easier to stir in the cheese without it getting all melty & clumpy. You could also make this ahead & stop here.)

6. If you didn't pre-cook your peppers earlier, pre-heat oven to 350F now.

7. When the chicken is cool, stir in shredded cheese.

8. Stuff the peppers with chicken & cheese mixture.

9. Cover with foil & bake in the oven for about 30-45 minutes. In the last 5 minutes, remove the foil, sprinkle a little shredded cheese over the peppers and once they are ooey, gooey melty – they are ready to eat!

I spooned some slow cooked black beans into a shallow bowl and garnished with sour cream & guacamole.

I've made these a couple of times, but never done a nutrient analysis until today. Now that I see how much fat is in the recipe, I will definitely try using less & switching to a healthier fat next time - 1 TBS EVOO will probably do the trick! Hope you enjoy!!