Shredded Chicken Nachos in Mini Bell Peppers

 

Do you find it basically impossible to make a batch of nachos without using up an entire bag of tortilla chips, or is that just one of our problems? No matter how many people we are serving, it's like all of our common sense/attempts at portion control goes straight out the door. Speaking of portion control, on the bag of our favorite tortilla chips,  it says the serving size is 9 chips. NINE. And there are apparently 11 servings in a bag. Riiiight.

So we may have a tortilla chip addiction, I get that. And while I would happily eat chips more than just about any other junk food, let's try a little harder to be sensible here. Nachos don't have to be total gut bombs & they most definitely can be a legitimately tasty, even boarder line healthy meal if you just use a little creativity.

Lucky for me, I found that creativity on the world wide web. Looks like someone else has a chip obsession that they're trying to slowly creep away from too. Now's the time to be real-- when I first shared this recipe idea with John, his initial comment was, "that sounds like a mistake." Point taken. It seems like something I would make & then consequently have a bag of chips on standby so when we didn't like the first bite, that we could slide the contents off the peppers onto the chips & then just eat our nachos in peace. But stay with me now.

John approved! He loved them & so did I! They were super nacho-y, still crunchy & filling & they totally satisfied that salty craving that I was having for nachos. I might have over-compensated for the lack of chips by adding more cheese... but cheese is probably more healthy than chips anyway, right?

One more bit of honesty here. I still served some chips along side of our chip-less nachos. Buuuut, I put 2 servings in a bowl & then we enjoyed them as a compliment to the nachos, not as the main event. Baby steps, baby steps!

Shredded Chicken Nachos in Mini Bell Peppers

Ingredients
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 green onions, sliced, white parts & green parts separated
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken

1 cup cooked black beans, rinsed
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 cup salsa
salt & pepper to taste
1 pound mini bell peppers (these are usually sold by the bag in the produce section near the full-sized bell peppers)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar/Monterey jack cheese
1/4 cup cilantro

Additional salsa for topping if desired

Greek yogurt for topping if desired

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Heat the oil in a 12 inch non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add garlic & the white parts of the green onions & cook & stir for about 1 minute. Mix in shredded chicken, black beans, & chili powder. Toss until all the ingredients are well-coated with chili powder & the chicken is warm, about 1-2 minutes. 

Remove from heat & stir in the salsa. Season to taste with salt & pepper. Slice the ends off each mini bell pepper & slice in half lengthwise. Remove seeds & ribs & press each half open so the peppers are as flat as possible. Arrange close together in a single layer on a large baking sheet.

Spoon chicken mixture evenly over pepper halves. Top with cheese. Bake nachos for 10 minutes, or until cheese has melted. Remove from oven, top with cilantro, remaining green onions & if desired, additional salsa & Greek yogurt.

Recipe adapted from Heat Oven to 350