Baked Chiles Rellenos! These stuffed poblano peppers are filled with rice or your favorite grains, nestled in store-bought salsa, and baked instead of fried, keeping things light yet satisfying for a spiced up dinner any day of the week.
I'm not sure how it's possible, but I am already seeing friends posting about back-to-school shopping, and I'm still over here bobbing around on my flamingo floaty with a frosty beverage in hand. Ok, not actually {though I wish!}, but I'm definitely still a summer state of mind.
When I was a kid, I actually used to love shopping for school supplies. The prospect of shiny new pencils, colorful printed folders {hello, Lisa Frank} and crisp, clean notebooks was enough to distract me from the fact that summer was, in fact, on its way out.
I'd carefully scour the aisles for what felt like hours {much to my mother's dismay, I'm sure} looking for supplies that were ideal in both form and function -- did it have the perfect pockets? Tabs? Perforation? Was it stylish enough? Come in the right color? Did it reflect "me"?
It may seem like that's an awful lot of thought put into something as simple as loose-leaf paper and highlighters, but there was no rush like finding the quintessential resources that would guarantee a fabulous school year.
These days, I do most of my aisle-scouring looking for the most perfect products to have in my pantry. I spend just as much time trying to find things that will check the boxes for both nutrition and taste, and when I score a winner, it becomes a treasured find.
I tend to rotate our starches and sides between quinoa, brown rice, and gluten-free pasta with an occasional potato dish thrown in for good measure, but the truth is that using the same old stuff week by week can get pretty boring.
So, when I discovered Village Harvest Organic Benefit Blends were a thing, I might have done the same happy dance that was brought on by finding the coolest Jansport backpack. {Am I aging myself at all?}
Their three varieties of distinctive organic, gluten-free blends -- Protein, Antioxidant and Ancient Grain -- offer the perfect solution to switching up your starches while simultaneously getting some healthful goodness. Bonus: Village Harvest pledges 1% of their profits toward running programs that give back to the farmers and communities from which their products are sourced!
Of course, with a new and exciting ingredient to work with I had to step up my dinner game to a new level of awesomeness {read: something delicious but not terribly difficult to make}, so I cooked up some Ancient Grain Blend, gave it some spice and stuffed it into roasted poblano peppers, which I then nestled in {store-bought} salsa and baked for a lightened up twist on Chiles Rellenos.
The Ancient Grain Blend's combination of millet, white & red quinoa and buckwheat jazzes things up without taking any longer to cook than typical quinoa, but adds so much to your dish.
Topped off with some creamy, diced avocado and an extra sprinkle of cheese, these Baked Chiles Rellenos may bring back the excitement that you thought only came from a new Trapper Keeper. {Just me? Ok, never mind.}
If you haven't seen Village Harvest products in your local grocery store, make sure to submit a product request form and ask for your store manager to order it so you can try it out yourself!
As for me, I'll be over here reminiscing about pastel-colored milky/jelly roll pens and marbled {neon, not black and white} composition notebooks. Ah, those were the days.
Baked Chiles Rellenos
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup Ancient Harvest Organic Ancient Blend
- 4 medium poblano peppers
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- Juice of ½ a lime
- ⅓ cup canned black beans drained
- ⅓ cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese plus extra for sprinkling
- 1 ⅓ cups your favorite jarred salsa or taco sauce
- Diced avocado for topping
- Cilantro optional
Instructions
Prepare Ancient Harvest Ancient Grain Blend:
- Bring 2 cups water and ½ teaspoon salt to a boil in a pot over high heat. Once boiling, add 1 cup Ancient Harvest Organic Ancient Blend and allow to come to a boil once again. Reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer until most of the liquid has been absorbed, then turn off burner and allow to sit and steam for about 10 minutes or until cooked. Fluff with a fork.
- Meanwhile, prepare poblano peppers: Set the oven to broil {500 degrees}. Arrange peppers on a baking sheet lined with foil. Broil peppers for 5-7 minutes, turning over if desired until it begins to char in spots -- the skin will turn black and blister. Remove from oven and place in a deep dish or bowl; cover with plastic wrap or foil and set aside for about 10 minutes. This allows the peppers to steam and will make it easy to remove the papery outside skin of the peppers.
- Once the peppers are cool enough to handle, carefully peel off the charred outer skin and discard. Make a long slit in each pepper, making sure not to cut through to the other side. Carefully reach in and remove all the seeds and any tough membranes and discard.
Make filling:
- In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, cumin and lime juice. Add to cooked Ancient Harvest Ancient Blend and stir to combine. Fold in black beans and shredded cheese. Set aside.
Prepare baking dish:
- In a medium baking dish, pour the jarred salsa. Set the oven temperature to 375 degrees.
Fill peppers:
- Gently scoop the filling into each pepper until full {about ⅓ cup should do it}. Nestle each stuffed poblano into the sauce at the bottom of the baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for about 15-20 minutes to allow the cheese in the filling to melt and the sauce to heat through. Remove the foil in the last few minutes of baking and add an extra sprinkle of cheese on top. Top with diced avocado and cilantro before serving if desired.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
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