nach-o cheese!

Last week, I came home with a massive craving for nachos. This doesn’t happen often, but all I wanted for dinner was a huge pile of (preferably blue) tortilla chips, guacamole, salsa, cheese, and sour cream. Sometimes Boyfriend and I will order nachos at a restaurant with the intention of ordering it for an appetizer, and it ends up being enough for an entree. So it seemed like a good idea.

Unfortunately, I had just come home from the grocery store and didn’t have this culinary epiphany until about 10 minutes after that. Of course, I hadn’t had the foresight to know ahead of time that this craving was coming, and therefore neglected to purchase, oh say, 75% of the required ingredients for nachos. Luckily, Boyfriend was so into the idea that he happily went back to the grocery store with me. Don’t I have a good guy?

Segue — if that isn’t enough proof (or the five zillion other things I’ve mentioned in this blog), please take a look at the text message I received from him yesterday in hopes to make me laugh:

Even the act of screen-capturing this and uploading it is making me laugh so hard my eyes are watering. The backstory is that we were watching Homeland the other night, and I asked him to pause it so I could brush my teeth. I’m not sure what exactly is going on in this picture, only that Claire Danes is having one of her freakouts, and the stars aligned so perfectly as to have this glorious image on our TV screen. I hope it is forever engraved in your brains, dear readers.

Anyway, I digress.

Nachos.

The great thing about nachos is that they can be easily customized for a vegetarian or meat eater’s diet. And the fact that they are covered in guacamole and cheese. I mean, do I need to say more?

Nachos: Veggie or Turkey

You will need…

• 1 bag of tortilla chips (I prefer the blue kind, but for this dish we mixed blue & yellow)
• olive oil
• 1/2 lb turkey meat
• 1/2 bag veggie crumbles
• salt, pepper
• 2 tsp cumin, divided
• 2 tbsp chili powder, divided
• pinch of red pepper flakes or cayenne 
• several handfuls of shredded cheese (cheddar or a Mexican blend)
• salsa, store-bought or homemade
• guacamole, store bought or homemade (homemade is the way to go here, trust me)
• sour cream
• sliced jalapenos 
• shredded romaine or iceberg lettuce 

 

Method…

1. Heat olive oil in two skillets over med-high heat. Add turkey meat to one, veggie crumbles to the other. Cook approx 2 – 3 minutes each, then add spices to each. Stir often. Cook until turkey meat is browned and cooked through. Cook veggie crumbles until browned and cooked through. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. On two separate sheets, spread a layer of tortilla chips. Top chips with turkey/veggie crumbles, cheese, jalapenos. Add more chips. Repeat layers until satisfied. 
3. Bake in preheated oven approx 10 minutes, or until cheese is thoroughly melted. Add shredded lettuce, salsa, guac, and sour cream. ENJOY YUM.