Recipe for Super tasty Nutty Cheese Bites that are high in protein and low in carbs

I picked up this recipe at the State Fair this fall in the Food and Fiber building where all the food manufacturers are set up to talk about actual food production.  This is always my favorite building to learn about bees, milk and the beef, chicken and cotton industries here in Texas.  My old German farming roots are showing, I know. 

I can't believe I never got around to making these because they are absolutely fantastic.  They are spicy and delicious.  I'll share the instructions as they were written, then tell you my shortcuts.

Nutty Cheese Bites

1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken thighs
4 garlic cloves
1/2 red bell pepper, finely diced
2 jalapeno peppers, deseeded and diced
1 tsp. of chipolte shili pepper (powdered)
1/2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of fresh cracked pepper
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup of toasted pine nuts
juice from 1/2 lime
2 cups of seasoned croutons

Place the garlic cloves in a food processor and pulse until finely minced.  Add the thighs and further pulse until chicken is ground.  Removed and place mixture in a large bowl.  Combine with pine nuts, cheddar cheese, red bell pepper, jalapeno peppers, and remaining seasonings.  Mix well.

Form mixture in to 3/4 inch balls by rolling between palms.  Roll the formed balls in the prepared crouton crumbs.  Line baking sheet with foil and place chicken balls on the sheet slightly seperated.  This can be prepared in advance and refrigerated or frozen.

When ready to cook, use broiler on high and place tray 4 inches below heat.  Broil for 4 - 6 minutes until golden and serve hot.

I used my large food processor for this job and started with my veggies.  I placed the chopped peppers in a large bowl, then "processed" the cheddar cheese.  No need to break out the grater disk, the big chopping blade works fine.   I prefer the solid blocks of cheese as opposed to already grated from the store.  Then I processed the croutons and put them in a seperate small bowl.  I did all of these things while toasting my pine nuts.  After all of these were done I did the garlic and chicken.  I mixed with my hands in a large bowl.

I cooked 8 balls last night.  They actually took closer to 9 minutes to cook to my satisfaction. 

I froze the remaining 8 by lining them up on a cookie sheet in my freezer.  After they were solid, I placed them in a freezer bag, for easy retrieval in the future. 

I dumped all the info in to fitday and calculated that each little Nutty Cheese Bite contains about 6 grams of protein each and 1 gram of carbs.

And, as inspired by Eggface, I used Fage yogurt with a little Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix stirred in for dipping.  (Thanks for this idea Shelly)  The coolness of the ranch was great paired against the spicy chicken. Y-U-M-M-Y!

I hope y'all enjoy this as much as my husband and I did.



 

Yummy!!!! Is the chicken cooked or raw when you put it in the processor?

It is raw. 

These are super yummy. 

Oh, and I posted the carbs incorrectly.  There are 1.1 per ball not 3.  I had three of them for dinner, so I just copied what I had written without calculating my serving.

I hope you enjoy.