Grilled Pepper Poppers

Recipe from Cooking Light, JUNE 2009
Husband-Tested in Alice’s Kitchen
16 servings (serving size: 2 pepper halves)

Anytime I serve peppers or any other spicy food, for that matter, I think of my daddy. He loves spicy things and regularly uses hot sauce as his go-to condiment. He’d warn me when I was little and wanted to try anything spicy, “It’ll put hair on your chest.” I inherited his love of spicy things, but, alas, no chest hair, thank goodness. My husband likes a little heat, but not too much. My daddy calls him or anyone else who favors milder dishes a “pantywaist.” I made these as an appetizer using milder cherry peppers for the pantywaists who attended our Labor Day dinner party. They were just terrific. I served them at room temperature, but had the few which were leftover cold for lunch the next day. Yummy!

1/2 cup (4 ounces) soft goat cheese
1/2 cup (4 ounces) fat-free cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup finely chopped seeded tomato

2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions

2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage or 1 teaspoon dried sage

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

16 jalapeño peppers, halved lengthwise and seeded (I used milder cherry peppers.)

Cooking spray

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

Set grill to medium-high heat.
Combine first 7 ingredients in a bowl, stirring well. Spoon the cheese mixture into each pepper half.
Place pepper halves, cheese side up, on grill rack coated with cooking spray. Grill peppers 5 minutes or until bottoms of peppers are charred and cheese mixture is lightly browned. Carefully place peppers on a serving platter. Sprinkle with cilantro, if using.

Nutritional Information per Serving (2 pepper halves): CALORIES 84 ; FAT 4.8g (sat 3.1g,mono 1.2g,poly 0.2g); CHOLESTEROL 11mg; CALCIUM 117mg; CARBOHYDRATE 3.5g; SODIUM 334mg; PROTEIN 7.1g; FIBER 0.9g; IRON 0.6mg