Pollo con Queso

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My husband asked for Mexican food last night and I had already thawed a whole chicken, so this dish is what I came up with that satisfied his craving and my tastes as well.  It was simple to throw together, is tasty, and pretty much cooks itself after browning the chicken.  This dish is suitable for Atkins Induction.  It is a little carb pricey, but very nutritious, as the info below indicates.

INGREDIENTS:

1  3-lb. chicken, (skin, wings and back removed for making stock)

1 T. butter, coconut oil or olive oil  (I used coconut)

½ can (10 oz) Ro-Tel tomatoes & green chilies, drained solids (I used extra hot)

2/3 c. chicken stock

¼ tsp. chili powder

¼ tsp. garlic powder

¼ c. heavy cream

2 oz. American cheese slices (broken into pieces)

2 oz. Cheddar cheese, grated

2 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, grated

2 oz. Pepper Jack Cheese (cut into pieces)

DIRECTIONS:   Cut up chicken.  Remove most of the skin, wings and neck (if present) and boil those in water to cover until tender, about 40 minutes.  While that is boiling, cut breast pieces diagonally into two portions.  The legs and thighs will make a total of 8 pieces.   Preheat oven to 350º.  In a large skillet (mine is oven-proof 13″) heat the oil of your choice and brown the skinned pieces of chicken until nicely browned on both sides.  Meat will not be totally done inside, however.   Turn off the heat and stir in the ½ can of drained tomato/chile solids, the chicken stock and spices.  Freeze any remaining stock and I then cut up the skin and meat to add to my two rat terriers’ dinners for this entire week.  🙂  They love it when I cook chicken.  🙂  Reserving out a bit of the grated cheddar and Monterey Jack for final topping, evenly distribute the cheese over the sauce and chicken.  Cover and pop into  350º oven for about 40 minutes.  Remove from oven, uncover  and stir in the cream over low heat until it begins to slightly thicken  Sprinkle reserved cheese on top.  Place cover on top for 1-2 minutes to melt the final cheese addition and serve at once.  If you have it, a garnish of a few cilantro leaves would be good on this also. You can see from the pic above I served my husband some canned refried beans with cheese melted on top and this is good with a little guacamole (I didn’t have an avocado on hand) or a green salad of lettuce and tomato only.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 4 servings, each contains:

469 calories

35 g  fat

3.48 g  carbs, .48 g  fiber, 3.0 g  NET CARBS

973 mg sodium

357 mg potassium

25% RDA Vitamin A, 25% B6, 25% B12, 21% calcium, 15% copper, 18% iron, 56% niacin, 45% phosphorous, 39% riboflavin, 42% selenium, 17% thiamin, 39% zinc