Jalapeno Chicken Haystacks

When I first saw this recipe, I knew it had potential but I wasn't 100% sure what I wanted to do with it. I figured I would play around with it and see what I could come up with. The pressure was on when I ended up serving this experiment to my whole family and not just Hunter. Usually I reserve the experiments for just the two of us. 

I opted to go in a direction similar to Hawaiian Haystacks. I knew I would probably end up serving it with rice and topping said rice with the sauce. I really like colorful plates as well and what better way to get that then topping it with red tomatoes and green avocados? This actually falls pretty far from the mark of the original recipe, although it uses all the same ingredients. I'm happy the direction I went with this and plan to make it many more times in the future. 

One of my favorite recipes growing up was Hawaiian Haystacks. Whenever I got to request a meal, that was it. So it was fun to make a play on the classic favorite. 

Recipe:

Yield: 8-10 Servings

4 chicken breasts

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup water

1 chicken bullion cube

Juice of half a lemon

3 jalapenos, sliced

1 tbsp cornstarch + 1 tbsp cold water

1 8 oz package cream cheese

3 cups rice

Toppings can include but are not limited to:

Cheese

Bacon, cooked and diced

Tomatoes

Avocado

Pineapple

Shredded Coconut

Jalapeno

Season the chicken breasts with the chili powder and salt and place in a crockpot. Add the water, bullion cube, lemon juice, and sliced jalapenos (you can make this as hot as you want or not depending on how many seeds you leave in - I left the seeds of one jalapeno and didn't have hardly any bite. I'll probably use the seeds of at least two next time) and cook on low for 5-6 hours. 

Remove the chicken from the crockpot and shred. Switch the crockpot to high. At this point, I used my immersion blender to blend in the jalapenos so the sauce was smooth, but that certainly isn't necessary. Add the cream cheese to the sauce in the crockpot and mix until smooth. Mix the cornstarch with the cold water and add to the sauce. Add the shredded chicken back in and allow to cook for 20 more minutes. The sauce should be nice and thick. 

Serve over rice and top with whatever you like!

Source: adapted from Diabetic Connect