Do you love Mexican food?  I know I do… but the rice! the beans! the tortillas!  All those non-Keto foods.  This recipe dodges all those pitfalls, and delivers true Mexican flavor without damaging the balance we seek.

INGREDIENTS:

The Chicken:

1 whole chicken (or 4-6 leg and thighs)

1 box chicken broth 

1 tablespoon of minced garlic, or 1.5 teaspoons of garlic powder

1 tablespoon of dried oregano (fresh is even better)

1 tablespoon cumin 2 teaspoons black pepper

1 tablespoon dried cilantro or 2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon powdered arbol or other hot peppers (to taste) (optional)

Ingredients:

1 large poblano pepper (per person)

1 cup shredded cheese (pepper jack, mixed Mexican cheese or any white Mexican melting cheese)

1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Put the chicken and all of the herbs, spices and broth in a large pan.  Add water to cover the chicken.  Bring to a boil, turn your stove down to simmer, and simmer until the chicken is falling off the bone (1-2-1/2 hours, depending on the chicken).  Alternatively, place the ingredients in a pressure cooker and cook until falling apart (Probably half an hour.)

While the chicken is cooking, bring a pot of water to a boil and dip the poblano(s) into the boiling water until their out skins will slip off, leaving a plump, succulent pepper for stuffing.

Set the pepper(s) aside, after making a slit from the top of the pepper to the bottom and removing the seeds.

Next, place the grated cheese and the heavy cream in a small pan, and heat and stir on low heat until the ingredients have smoothed and blended into a creamy cheese sauce.

When the chicken is done, shred it as if you were making pulled pork.

Fill the partially cooked pepper, cool by now, with the pulled chicken.

Plate the poblano, then pour the cheese sauce over the pepper. Heat in toaster oven or microwave until everything is hot.  If you use a toaster oven, the top should be golden brown.

Garnish with chopped cilantro, a small amount of chopped onions and/or tomatoes (not too much, remember the sugar) and, if you like it, chopped avocado.

You can substitute beef, pork or additional cheese to stuff the poblano.  If you use pork, consider serving with some green salsa (tomatillo salsa).  The pork goes perfectly with the green salsa.