How to Prepare Mexican Food the Healthy Way: Chili Rellenos and Stuffed Jalapenos

Dieters will find two familiar enemies when facing Mexican food: grease and cheese. However, there are plenty of ways to get around these two, including substituting and portion control. In this article, discover how to alter recipes for Chili Rellenos and stuffed jalapeno peppers to fit a healthy eating lifestyle.

Baked Chili Rellenos and Jalapeno Peppers:

Peppers are sometimes seen as toppings for junkfood like nachos and oversized fast food burgers, but peppers can lend their nutritional value to healthy meals as well. For more information on the health benefits of adding peppers to your diet, see my article Health Benefits of Jalapeno Peppers . Most of our favorite Mexican recipes involve frying, but pepper fans wanting to lose weight should not be deterred. You can still enjoy the favor of a tasty Chili Relleno without most of the fat.

The first step in eliminating calories is finding a good recipe to use as a guide. Most of my favorite recipe sites didn't have good Chili Relleno recipes, but a Google search supplied plenty. One basic recipe was found on this site:

http://www.mexgrocer.com/534-killer-chiles-rellenos.html .

The recipe calls for skinned poblano peppers to be stuffed with meat and/or cheese, coated with batter, and then fried; however, there's a healthier alternative to the basic recipe.

When stuffing the pepper, consider what you're putting inside it. How much cheese and meat are you actually using? One way to make a tasty cheese and meat relleno is by using one thin slice of queso (El Viajero's Queso Fresco has 80 calories and 6 grams of fat per ounce) or reduced fat Monterey Jack cheese and thin sliced and cooked chicken as a stuffing. Also, cooked ground and seasoned turkey meat can make a great beef substitute if you'd rather have a richer flavored relleno. If you decide to use Monterey Jack cheese instead of queso, make sure you place your slice against the uncut back of the pepper and your meat closer to the seam. This way the cheese won't melt out of your pepper during the cooking period.

Now that you've eliminated a good portion of the calories from the cheese, it's time to get rid of that pesky grease. There are two alternatives. You could try to cook the rellenos in a skillet using nonstick cooking spray and the flour coating. However, if you'd like a crispy, slightly thicker batter, I suggest following the final steps of an oven fried chicken recipe, such as the one found in Kelly de Borda's article How to Make Oven Fried Chicken . Instead of using flour in your batter, dip the stuffed pepper in egg, and roll it in crushed crackers or corn flakes. Then bake for about thirty minutes. You may find yourself enjoying the baked pepper more than the fried pepper, since the cheese and meat flavors are given more time to cook into the pepper. Top the cooked pepper with warm salsa. To add more spice, simply dice jalapenos and cook in the salsa for an extra kick over your tamer flavored poblano pepper.

Follow these same steps when making stuffed Jalapenos, using lowfat cream cheese instead of queso or Monterey Jack. To add a little something extra to your Jalapenos, I suggest crisping and crumbling a few strips of bacon. After dabbing the grease off, stir the bacon bits into your cream cheese and then use this mixture for stuffing the peppers. This will add a rich meaty flavor without the fat of bacon-wrapped stuffed jalapenos.

Mexican food can be enjoyed by people who are on a diet or trying to change their eating habits. Next time you're planning to make your favorite stuffed pepper recipes, don't be afraid to control the amount of cheese and grease you're using. For more tips on making your favorite Mexican meals healthier, watch for my upcoming article on healthy taco and nacho alternatives.