Paleo Jalapeño Poppers

So Delicious introduced a Greek Style coconut milk yogurt several months back.  As if their regular coconut milk yogurt isn’t hard enough to find, good luck with this one (If you’d like to request that your local store carry these products check out this link http://sodeliciousdairyfree.com/product-request-form).  I tried the raspberry greek style coconut milk yogurt and thought it was delicious!  Thick like greek yogurt, but didn’t taste like coconut!  Then my search began for PLAIN greek style coconut milk yogurt so I could use it in recipes.  Thank you Wegmans!  I’ve used their regular (non greek) plain coconut milk for plenty of recipes in the past, but for something like jalapeño poppers you need a thicker, more cream cheese like, yogurt.  The following recipe made enough filling to stuff 12 jalapeño peppers and 7 poblano peppers!  If you’re making these just for yourself, the recipe is easily cut in half.

Ingredients:

12oz So Delicious Greek style plain coconut milk yogurt

1 onion, diced

3 orange bell peppers, diced

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 tomatoes, diced

Kosher or sea salt

Pepper

12 jalapeño peppers, seeds removed

7 poblano peppers, seeds removed (I had to grab these from the garden because I was out of jalapeños and still had plenty of filling! This recipe probably stuffs 24 jalapeños easy.)

10 pieces of uncured nitrate free bacon (I get mine at Trader Joe’s)

Olive oil

Gallon zip top bag

Method:

Heat 1-2 tbl. olive oil (could also use avocado oil or coconut oil) in a large skillet over medium heat.  Saute onion, bell pepper, and garlic until onion is soft and translucent.  Set onion and pepper mixture aside to cool.  When mixture is cool mix in the tomatoes and yogurt and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Transfer the filling to a zip top bag, remove the air, and seal the bag.  Cut one of the bottom corners off of the bag, you want a hole big enough that you can dispense filling through, small enough so the flow is manageable.  Stuff the peppers and wrap each pepper in 1/2 a slice of bacon.  For the poblano peppers, place the bacon over the top of the pepper (the opening) and secure it with a toothpick through each side of the pepper.  Lay the prepared jalapeño peppers on a baking dish (I used a stone dish) and stand the prepared poblanos up in a tiny casserole dish (so they won’t tip over in the oven and lose their filling).  Bake the peppers at 400°F for 45 minutes.

You don’t have to slice down the side of the peppers like I did, it just made it much easier to get the seeds and membrane out.  Normally not an issue, but I was cooking for a large group and not everyone likes the heat that comes from leaving some of that behind.

Tags: Paleo appetizers