A lot of work = a good thing

chicken chile relleno

This past weekend was the 2010 CrossFit games. What an amazing and inspiring weekend. It was so fun to see so many fit people in one place. And truly inspiring to see all the performances by so many athletes. There is heart poured into every one of the workouts. This year it was great to have the the Masters division in addition to the affiliates and individual competitors. The fittest people on the planet have definitely put their time in.

Speaking of time, I have not been putting in as much time into the kitchen as I should, but I was able to cook up these amazing little guys! The following recipe took a bit of time, as you will see, but was truly worth it. It's the Paleo version of a chile relleno. From start to finish I could not give you the exact time, but it took me over 3 days to finish them. I had many starts and stops in the process because I had to sleep and or work. I would think if you have and hour plus to spare you could get this done in one attempt. (I suggest cooking chicken ahead of time). I broke it down into a list of steps, don't get overwhelmed, they taste amazing and are well worth it. This recipe came from Stephanie at Primal Mama cooks and dishes on life. I varied mine just a little bit because I wanted to cook my own chicken and sauce, but otherwise I stuck to the basics she listed. Cooking my own chicken added an extra step, but I feel was worth it.

Hope you enjoy these as much as I did.

What you'll need:

4 Anaheim chilies, I used 8 small ones

2 organic chicken breasts

1 can organic diced stewed tomatoes

1 small can organic tomato paste

1 onion

2 eggs

seasonings

cumin

chili powder

cayenne pepper

salt

pepper

fresh cilantro for garnish

olive oil

paper bag

1. Place chicken breast in 8x8 pan with can of stewed tomatoes, cumin, chili powder, a pinch of cayenne and some salt and pepper. Bake at 350 for about 40 min.

2. Wash your chiles and roast them directly over a gas burner or bbq grill, rotate with tongs until all skins are black and burnt. Once they are done remove from burner place them in a paper bag and close tightly. Let sit for 10 min then remove from bag and peel off skin. It should come off easily.

3. Take each pepper and slice down the side (like a pocket) and remove seeds and veins, set aside.

4. Chop onion and in a medium saucepan heat 1 tbsp olive oil and add onion, cook until tender and translucent. Remove onions from pan and set pan aside (you will use it later).

5. Separate whites from yellow of eggs and beat whites with electric mixer until they form stiff peaks. Fold in 1 egg yolk into batter

6. When chicken is done cooking shred with fork and or chop into small pieces, then add in onion.

7. Pre heat saucepan and add more oil. Take roasted and de seeded chile and dip into egg batter, cook on all sides in same pan you used to cook onions in. Each side with take a min or two and should turn golden brown. let sit on paper towel to cool, then stuff with chicken mixture.

8. When all peppers are stuffed, place then in baking dish and bake for 20 min at 350. This should heat all the ingredients and help blend the flavors.

9. Make red sauce with half can tomato paste, enough water or broth to make sauce consistency, add 1 tbs cumin, 1 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp cayenne, salt and pepper.

10. Top chiles with sauce and serve with homemade guacamole