Buffalo Chicken Jalapeno Poppers

I usually record the Rachel Ray show every day during the week. One day, she mentioned these buffalo chicken jalapeno poppers and she really got my attention! My husband and I both love spicy foods and we LOVE the flavor of buffalo sauce on anything. Not to mention, we always have rotisserie chicken on hand for my little guy and my mom keeps giving me jalapeno peppers from her garden. I knew I was going to be making these immediately.

I started thinking about Rachel's ingredients and decided that I could really lighten up this recipe. I cut out some of Rachel's ingredients and made these with about four ingredients: jalapeno, chicken, Monterey jack cheese and a little buffalo sauce.

Buffalo Chicken Jalapeno Poppers - adapted from the Rachel Ray website, found here.

• 16-20 jalapeño peppers
• 1/3 cup hot sauce, such as Frank’s Red Hot brand
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups rotisserie chicken, skin and bones removed, shredded
• 1 rib celery, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles, divided

Preparation

Pre-heat the oven to 425ºF.

Working lengthwise, slice off the top quarter of each jalapeño. Using a small spoon or paring knife, scrape the seeds and ribs out of each jalapeño.

Place a small saucepot over low heat. Add the hot sauce and whisk in the butter until melted. In a medium size bowl, combine the pulled chicken, celery, Monterey Jack cheese and half of the blue cheese.

Scoop some of the chicken mixture into each of the peppers, filling them all up. Lightly mound the chicken into each pepper. Place the peppers in a baking dish and top with the remaining blue cheese.

Bake the peppers until tender and heated through, about 15 minutes. Serve warm.

Notes/Results: I had homegrown jalapeno peppers and they were much smaller (and hotter) than what was available in stores. Since they were so small, I had to scale down the filling. You pretty much have to eyeball the amount of filling you will need. I sliced the top half of the pepper off so I could create a cavity for the filling. I saved the top halves of the peppers, diced them up and added them back to the filling. I adapted this recipe to use less ingredients and tossed my shredded chicken with some bottled buffalo sauce. I used a light hand with the sauce, mainly because buffalo sauce is comprised of hot sauce and butter. I wanted these to be light appetizers that I could eat and not feel guilty about. I topped them with some monterey jack cheese, and didn't really have to use too much cheese. I baked them in the oven at 425 for about 15 minutes. They were really hot and spicy little bites, but they were delicious! I ate them until my mouth was on fire :D

On a personal note, my little guy will be turning three years old in about a week. Lately he has gotten himself into quite a bit of trouble just by being a "little boy". Last night, he clobbered me in the face with a toy and naturally I got mad. A couple of minutes later he told me "mommy, you're eyebrows are not angry anymore". After that he asked me if my eyebrows were happy. I thought it was so funny and cute that I had to share. It's funny to me that he notices all the expressions people make and how their eyebrows show their emotions. If only he could stay this cute and little forever!!