Nacho Heaven

One of the very best foods in the whole wide world is Nachos. I truly believe that it unites people and is so varied in its interpretation, it can satisfy all tastes. It is universal, honestly, I believe it! Making a large plate of nachos is one of the stay-in date-night rituals in our house. Served alongside some cold beers or cocktails in front of a flick with my main squeeze...heaven!

Friday night turned into Nacho night and I broke into the stockpile of leftovers and devised this beauty:

Nacho Components:

Store-bought Tortilla Chips
Shredded and chopped Grilled Salsa Chicken (Recipe Below)
Cheese Sauce (Recipe HERE)
Refried Beans (Recipe Below)
Guacamole (Recipe HERE)
Store-bought Sour Cream
Store-bought Salsa
2 T Fresh Cilantro from my garden - chopped and optional

Grilled Salsa Chicken:
Before I froze some chicken breasts, I sprinkled them with 2 T Simply Salsa from Tastefully Simple along with 1 t Olive Oil. I covered them completely with this mixture and froze them. When they thawed, they were ready to go onto the grill. Voila! Grilled Salsa Chicken. If you don't have any Simply Salsa, you can use any seasoning mix that you like or actually toss in some jarred salsa or salsa verde...your call! If you don't have any already marinated, just marinate the chicken for at least 30 minutes. If your mixture has vinegar or citrus, don't marinate overnight because that acid breaks down the chicken and makes it mushy.

Refried Beans
If I had known that nachos would be among the menus for this period, I probably would have bought a jar of fat free refried beans. Well, I didn't...so, I didn't. Necessity is the mother of invention and this project has born a lot of homemade things that otherwise would have been store bought. I either make it from scratch or we go without. I decided NOT to go without this time and really wanted refried beans. I also decided to "wing" it. It turned out really good. I guess I am lucky that I stock these things in my pantry. Here is how it went down.

1 Can Light Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed
2 Chipotle Peppers in Adobo (they come in a small can with a flip top)
1 t Olive Oil
1/2 t Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic (you can use real garlic or garlic seasoning)

Mix all of these together and use an immersion blender to puree. It will be the consistency of hummus. Heat in a saucepan over medium heat until some of the moisture is evaporated. Serve warm.

Build a better Nacho Platter:

I always build in layers because I don't like getting to the bottom of a platter of chips to find naked chips with no topping. Spread a layer of chips, drizzle with cheese sauce and some dollops of beans. Make another layer of chips and continue with the cheese and beans but sprinkle some chicken as well. Keep going until you have all of the cheese, beans, and chicken covering many layers of nachos. Finish with rows of guacamole, salsa, and sour cream. If you have cilantro, sprinkle it on top. If not, you can skip it.