Friday, September 14, 2012

Not Your Usual Nachos.

Nachos are, according to the Webster dictionary, "a tortilla chip topped with melted cheese and often additional savory toppings (as hot peppers or refried beans)". A good number of people have eaten them in Mexican restaurants or fast food chains; maybe even made them at home for a main meal, or to be enjoyed during a movie or sports game. Guess what though, the recipe for nachos is not written in stone and you are allowed to play with this finger food.

Sometime ago I had made Sloppy Joes for dinner; and there were leftovers. A couple of days later we were in the mood for nachos, but out of ground beef which I had used up for the sloppy joes. Hold on I thought, sloppy joes has ground beef, tomatoes, chile peppers; all I really need to make nachos is to add beans, mix and pour over the tortilla chips. One big difference, instead of Mexican seasoning, there was barbecue sauce and it was delicious! The barbecue sauce was zesty and smoky; but the beans, cheese and sour cream gave the illusion of chili.

So I started to think of other ways to have nachos, like using the filling for my Chicken Enchiladas; or what about shredded pork barbecue with cole slaw layered over chips; or a seafood salad and roasted corn mixture; what about tuna salad with zesty pickles or sweet, sliced peppers, or both!  Are you seeing the big picture here?  You don't even have to use flat chips and worry about heating up cheese on the ingredients to hold it to the chips.  Use the scoop type to hold the ingredients and pop into your mouth for a one bite munchy.

Next time you're thinking nachos, but maybe the rest of your family and friends have other cravings, think about combining them for a new type of snack.  Remember, football season is here, so the combinations are endless....hmmmm, little smokies in a spicy onion sauce in those tortilla scoop chips.  See what I mean?

Mary Cokenour