Baked Jalapeno Poppers

Ingredients:

• 1 Chicken Breast - Shredded
• 4 oz Cream Cheese
• 1/2 Cup Cheddar Cheese - Shredded
• 4 Pieces Bacon
• ~13 Jalapenos or Mini Sweet Peppers - Halved

Directions:

1. Bake chicken breast until done.  Transfer to stand mixer.  Shred chicken breast with paddle attachment on low for about 15 seconds.  Turn up speed to medium for about 15 seconds or until chicken is shredded.
2. Preheat oven to 375F.
3. Mix together cream cheese, cheddar cheese, bacon and shredded chicken.
4. Spoon chicken mixture into each pepper.
5. Bake for 20 minutes.

Thoughts About The Dish:

This was tasty! The one thing that everyone commented on is that there was a lot of variation in the spiciness of the jalapenos. This led to some peppers that were right on the line of being too spicy, and others that were almost as mild as a bell pepper. In the mini sweet peppers, the sweetness was evident, and made for a good change of pace when mixed in between jalapenos.

Some changes that might lead to improvement include:

1. Chopping up the jalapenos and mixing them into the chicken mixture. This would provide a more uniform spiciness, but would also mean that more sweet peppers were required to house the mixture that the jalapenos would have handled.
2. Sauteing onions and mixing them into the mixture. If also following change #1, the jalapenos could be sauteed with the onions. 

Chicken Bacon Crock Pot Chowder

This recipe comes from the Peace, Love and Low Carb Blog

The recipe with the modifications that I made is as follows:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 12 oz. Turkey Bacon (1 package)
• 8 oz. Cream Cheese
• 1 Cup Heavy Cream
• 2 Cups Chicken Stock - Divided
• 3 Tbs. Butter - Divided
• 4 Cloves Garlic
• 2 Ribs Celery
• 1/2 Large Onion
• 1 tsp. Parsley
• 1 tsp. Pepper
• 1 tsp. Garlic Powder
• 1 tsp. Thyme

Directions:

1. Turn crock pot on low setting
2. Chop all of your veggies.  Add the veggies, 2 Tbs. butter, 1 cup of chicken stock, pepper to the crock pot, cover and allow the vegetables to sweat for about an hour
3. Chop up your bacon and cook it until it is nice and crispy - Set aside
4. At the same time, pan sear your chicken breasts in the remaining 1 Tbs of butter until they are a nice caramel brown color on both sides (They will not be fully cooked at this stage)
5. Remove the chicken from pan.  Cut into cubes.  De-glaze the chicken pan with the remaining 1 cup of chicken stock. 
6. Add the chicken stock, heavy cream, cream cheese and seasonings to the crock pot.  Stir until well combined.  
7. Add the chicken and the bacon to the crock pot.  Cover and let cook for 6-8 hours. 

Thoughts About The Dish:

This was tasty and good, with a cheesy flavor that combined with the bacon to almost seem reminiscent of a cheese steak sandwich. That said, it could have gotten by with half the bacon and would probably have been tastier with 2 or 3 times as much pepper.

There are two directions you could take with modifying this dish:

• Keeping the same flavor: Without changing things too much, you might enjoy adding more celery and/or onion (as both break down very well in the crock pot). Other options for additions include peas (not for the whole cooking time), diced tomatoes (not for the whole cooking time), and possibly green peppers. If you're a mushroom fan, they would go great here too!
• Embrace the Mexican: This dish would lend itself well to developing into a Mexican flavor by adding green peppers, jalapenos, diced tomatoes (not for the whole cooking time), green chiles (not for the whole time), and Mexican spices (perhaps cumin).