Black Bean Nachos

 

Happy Monday guys!  Let me tell you how mine started.  Well, if you're friends with me on Facebook, you probably already know.   But I'll tell you again because, frankly, I just need to vent. 

Before I left for work, I went to take the dogs for a walk.  As I'm walking, a biker is coming up towards us, and happens to have a dog along with him.  One of our dogs (Mocha), decides to book-it towards the dog and gets undone from her collar - this is one of those "oh sh*t" moments.  So after some sniffing in some inappropriate spots, I get Mocha away from the other dog (all while still handling our other dog, Zappa).  So I tell Mocha to "sit" and she does, but as soon as I come up to her to put her collar back on, she shoots off in another direction.  So this goes on for a good 10 minutes (maybe it was only 2 or 3, but my patience was getting thin and it seemed like an eternity) until I finally get her collar back on her.  So yeah, not the kind of Monday morning I thought I'd be having.

Anyway, we had our engagement picture session on Saturday and we had so much fun in the park!  I can't wait to see the final results and share them with you all - so stay tuned!

We made these nachos for dinner last week and they're just loaded with good stuff!  They're meatless, so even better for my vegetarian readers!  Although, I think we may try this next time with some chorizo!

Ingredients:

Tortilla chips
15 oz. can seasoned black beans, drained
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 & 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, plus more for topping
1/2 cup chipotle cheddar cheese (or regular cheddar cheese, but a friend of mine brought me this from Wisconsin a few days ago!)
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
Sour cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 F.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil under medium high heat.  Add onions and both bell peppers.  Saute until softened, about 6-8 minutes.  Stir in black beans and cook until heated through, about 1-2 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and top with tortilla chips (I used about 3/4 of a bag).  Top with bean and pepper mixture.  Then add mozzarella and cheddar cheeses.

Baking in oven for about 10 minutes, or until cheeses are melted and slightly browned.

Top with additional cheese and sour cream, if desired. 

This was such a filling dinner that we didn't even miss the meat!  I'm loving easy dinners like this nowadays because it seems like our (work) days are getting longer, so it's nice to have a quick meal planned like this!  Feel free to vary on the toppings - jalapenos would be a nice spicy addition to this too!

How do you like your nachos?

See you all tomorrow!

Vegetarian Nachos

Vegetarian? I'm not usually one to eat things without meat. Not that I don't dislike plain vegetables, it's just I can never find anything filling and appealing enough to eat without meat. I know vegetarians everywhere are cringing at that statement, but maybe you guys could give me some insight eh?

These were actually supposed to be faux tacos, too, but once again, I had to improvise. Jicama was supposed to be sliced really really thin so it would act as a taco shell for my filling, but I ran into 2 problems. #1... I didn't have a mandolin (which I'm really thinking about investing in sometime soon) and #2... my knife skills aren't amazing and I couldn't slice really really thin. So nachos were born.

Ingredients:
Adapted from the Top Chef Quickfire Cookbook "Richard B.'s Vegetarian Tacos"

1 large jicama, peeled and cut into thin slices or wedges
2 avocados, halved and pitted
1/2 large papaya, peeled, seeded, and diced
2 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
juice from 8 key limes
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
10 corn tortillas, quarted
vegetable oil for frying
sour cream
shredded cheddar cheese

Because I couldn't use my jicama as taco shells, I used them as faux nacho chips instead. Along with a mixture of corn tortilla chips (which I'll give the details on making here in a minute) to give it some added texture. And let me just say... I love jicama. Not many people know about jicama (key example, the grocery store clerk who completely had the "what the hell is this?" look on his face. It's kind of ugly on the outside, but on the inside is a sweet apple-y flavored vegetable after you peel the exterior. Anyway, I digress...

In a medium bowl, lightly mash up the avocados, papaya, and tomato. Mix in the lime juice, coriander, cinnamon, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix in as much of the 1/2 cup of cilantro as you'd like, but save some for topping if you wish.

To make your tortilla chips, add enough vegetable oil to a large heavy pan to bring it up about 1/2 and inch. Heat the oil under medium high heat and fry about 10 chips at a time, or more if you wanted to and had a big enough pan. Cook each for about 30-45 seconds per side. Place in a bowl lined with paper towels and salt each batch as they come out of the oil. It will allow the salt to "stick" on the chip, if you will.

To plate, get a large plate and mix in the jicama with the chips. Pile on the avocado mixture, top with shredded cheese, and then sour cream, if desired. Maybe strict vegans can't do those last 2 toppings, but pile it on however you wish!

I really loved the flavor profile of this dish. The avocado mixture with the chips tasted differently than with the jicama chips. It was kind of crazy how well the jicama paired with the mixture. When the chips were in the dip, you could really taste the lime, but when the jicama was thrown in there, the lime sort of "blended" in and you could really get a sense of all the flavors in the dish. This really impressed me and would be a great appetizer dip for any occasion! Enjoy!