Beans, Beans, A Magical Fruit...

When you're 8 years old and you live in Texas, refried beans are like a whole food group in your diet.  The weeone has a standing order at Don Jose's (our fave little Mexican dive we've been eating at since I was 5). She gets a small chili con queso with flour tortillas followed by a side of rice and refried beans.  And yes, I realize there is no meat in that meal....beans count, right?  Even when they're laden with lard?

Anyway, when I came across the idea of mixing beans, rice and salsa and shoving them into a hollowed out poblano pepper I knew it would be a hit in our house!  Poblanos are not that spicy, they just have a hint of spice most of the time, so they're a decidedly "Mexican" spin on stuffed peppers.

I decided that adding some chopped sauteed shrimp to the mix would make it even more yummy.  So I took the peppers, sliced them in half lengthwise and put them in a baking dish.  A cookie sheet would work fine as well.

I sauteed the shrimp after dusting them with a bit of cumin.  (a few shrimp may or may not have inadvertantly fallen into my mouth during the cooking process)

Then the beans, rice, salsa and shrimp all were blended together - sort of like a modern-day family.  ;D

Into the pepper halves the filling went and into the oven the pan went!

About 15 minutes into baking, I added cheese to the tops of each pepper.  You cannot, repeat, cannot go wrong by topping anything with cheese!!!

When they came out of the oven I topped them with some chopped cilantro and....they quickly disappeared.  The weeone gave these an A+ and said it was a "definite repeater".  Ole!

Stuffed Poblano Peppers
adapted from a Cooking Light Recipe
Serves - 4

4 Poblano peppers, sliced in half and deseeded
1 can fat free refried beans
1 cup of your favorite rice (I used long grain wild rice), cooked
3/4 cup picante sauce
12 shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 cup 2% shredded Mexican Cheese Blend
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put empty sliced poblanos into the oven to cook for about 15 minutes.
2.  Spray a non stick pan with cooking spray and heat over medium heat.  Toss the shrimp with cumin and add to the heated pan, turning shrimp to cook fully.  (3-5 minutes)
3.  When shrimp is done cooking, cut into bite sized pieces.
4.  Combine beans, shrimp, rice and salsa in a medium bowl.  Then fill each poblano with 1/3 of a cup of filling or until all the filling has been evenly distributed among the peppers.
5.  Bake filled peppers for 15 minutes, then top with the shredded cheese and return them to the oven until they are hot and the cheese is melted, approx. 10 minutes.  When removed from the oven, top the peppers with the chopped cilantro and serve hot.

Nutritional Information - 1 serving = 2 stuffed pepper halves
Calories - 274, Total Fat - 5.8g (Sat - 3.6g, Polyunsat - 0.2g, Monounsat -0.1g), Chol - 42.4mg, Sodium - 1283mg, Potassium - 565.3mg, Total Carbs - 34.5g, Dietary Fiber - 7.5g, Sugars - 4.6 g, Protein - 18.2g