Sunday, February 3, 2013

Game Day Treat - Paleo Jalapeno Poppers


I read a statistic that said on Superbowl Sunday this year, Americans will eat 1.23 billion chicken wings and will drink over 50 million cases of beer. Whoa! We won't be indulging in any chips or sweets or beer in this house today, but in the name of one-in-a-while treats for a cold February day, we made a batch of Paleo Jalapeno Poppers.

 Instead of being stuffed with cream cheese, these have a vegan nut cheese made with cashew butter, tahini. brewers yeast, a bit of almond milk, and spices. And rather than breaded and fried, they are wrapped in nitrate-free bacon and baked.  

 Here is the recipe, adapted from one found on this blog. Filling from Whole Foods website.

 Ingredients:
  • 1 pack of hickory smoked, nitrate-free bacon
  • 12 jalapenos(1 for each piece of bacon. Look for the fat peppers!)
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper
Cashew Nut Cheese Filling Ingredients:
  • 1 cup (8oz) cashew butter
  • 2 TBS tahini
  • 2 TBS brewer's yeast flakes
  • 1/4 cup almond milk
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp white pepper
Mix ingredients in bowl until blended. Should be a thick, sticky consistency.


 Assembly Instructions:
  1. Place raw washed (patted dry) jalapenos on a pan, lightly coat in olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. 
  2. Let them soften in the oven for about 10-12 minutes. 350 degrees.
  3. WEAR GLOVES for this part - cut down the center of one side of the pepper (do not cut off the top of cut completely open), use a spoon and/or gloved finger to remove the seeds. 
  4. Stuff with nut cheese filling and mold back into pepper shape
  5. Wrap with one slice of bacon, place on baking sheet
  6. Bake at 350 degrees until bacon is crispy. Let cool slightly before serving.
Enjoy!



Quick note- these treats I post here are treat foods I eat very rarely. The way I see it, indulging in "paleo" splurge foods are still better than eating any kind of processed sugary garbage. Besides, no one needs to read a recipe about baked fish on a bed of greens, or a big salad with veggies and baked chicken breast - which are the main types of meals I eat day in and day out.