Well, well, well....
After a long hiatus Greg and I feel ready to....at least try to...catch up on our food blog. In the last 2 months or so many delicious dinners have been cooked and new recipes discovered. The cooking always continues in our kitchen regardless of whether they end up here or not. However, time does not always allow for the lengthy posts we so enjoy and last term was definitely a busy one for both of us. With the rush to the finish line being right before the holidays and then going home for Thanks, Christmas, New Years etc., we somehow managed to find no time for the food blog, however unfortunate that may be.
In any case, I am, we both are, really excited to be back and of course have amassed photos and recipes to share with you. Because, for some of them, so much time has passed, the recipes may be foggy or some may have no pictures BUT we will try to catch you up on some of the more important ones. Because there are so many things to share, my ingredient lists and recipe descriptions will not be as lengthy or in depth as usual. There's just too much to cover in too little time!! Let's get started!
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So we begin on the eve of our anniversary: Greg and I got somewhat carried away, followed our eyes instead of our stomachs, and made the largest (most ridiculously delicious) mexican dinner ever...in our history at least. We decided that we really wanted to aim for an all out feast and boy did we get one. With a huge platter of homemade Nachos con Verduras to "start" and for the main course, a quesadilla/burrito hybrid filled with all kinds of deliciousness, it took all our best efforts not to finish every last bite.
October 18, 2009
Nachos con Verduras y Burritos
Making nachos at home is really quite a simple task - as well as relatively cheap compared to the $7-$12 bucks they're going to cost you out at a restaurant. In most cases, when you order nachos at a restaurant they're never quite right. There's either not enough cheese, too few chips, too many beans, too spicy, too mild etc., but since nachos can be made to fit just about anyone's food preferences, they're that much more delicious when they're made by you and personalized for your tastes!
Because they can be topped with absolutely anything you like, it can be a chance to experiment. In our situation, we try to incorporate veggies in our meals every night no matter what we're eating, so although this is probably not the healthiest dinner, we gave it some health value by throwing a mixture of veggies (including fresh leaf spinach which was our experimental ingredient) on top in addition to a mixture of black & refried beans, a little ground beef for extra flavor, cheese (of course!) and at the end garnished it with sour cream and our homemade guacamole (another simple thing to make fabulously at home).
The nacho recipe is fairly straightforward so I'll just give a brief overview.
Ingredients:
- Tortilla chips, any brand or variety you like
- Cheese, usually shredded, in any type (or variety of types) you prefer
- Any other toppings you desire
As I said, very simple. Take a baking sheet and cover with a layer of tin foil to catch any cheese or toppings that might fall off the pile. The tin foil is really helpful because these spill-overs can be really obnoxious to scrape off the baking sheet once they've been burnt onto the surface for over 15 minutes. Turn the oven on to the desired temp and let it pre-heat. Next, put down a layer of chips. Another thing I've learned over time is that the more time and care you put into making your layers, the better the nachos will be. Although this sounds kind of silly, if you just throw down a layer of chips completely randomly you will have some chips with no toppings at all and some with too many (which end up getting soggy). Obviously chips are not perfectly symmetrical and they don't always lie flat but take the time to try and arrange them in such a way that they create the most flat, even layer you can achieve. Next put a layer of any toppings you wish. In this case, we put a layer of beans and veggies and saved all our beef for the top. Next, create your second layer. Again, try to be patient and neat. Apply your last layer of toppings, cheese included, and stick in the over. I don't remember the exact cooking time or oven temp. for these nachos but usually between 325 and 375 degrees is fine (depending on how impatient you are) and I would guess about 15 minutes should be plenty. Keep an eye on them and again, always moderate to your preferences.
As I mentioned before, guacamole is another treat that is always so overpriced at restaurants and at grocery stores yet so cheap to make. The most expensive part of this recipe is going to be the avocados, but once in a while they are so worth it. In terms of health value, avocados are great for you but only in moderation. Similar to nuts, they contain healthy fats but they are high in calories so keep your guac munching to a minimum. The following recipe is for a small serving so obviously increase ingredient amounts if you are feeding more than 2 people.
Ingredients:
- 2 Hass avocados, you'll know they're ripe when they're soft and squishy (not too squishy!)
- 1 fresh lime
- Fresh tomato, chopped small
- Fresh onion, chopped small
- Salt
Finding an avocado that is the perfect ripe-ness is always tricky. If your avocado is a little more firm, that's okay it's just going to take more elbow grease to crush it up. Now, I prefer my guacamole chunky and not too smooth so I crush my avocado and mix my ingredients in a bowl by hand however if you prefer a less chunkier guacamole, you may want to consider using a blender or a food processer if you have one available.
Start by cutting your avocado in half. Be mindful of the pit in the middle! It's best to cut around the avocado instead of trying to plunge your knife right through the whole damn thing. Once you have the two halves with the pit removed, I use a fun trick to gut my avocado halves. With the inside of the avocado facing you, run a sharp knife gently through the avocado vertically and horizontally, scoring it so that you have small squares. Don't push the knife through the skin on the other side. This will make it much easier to gut and much easier to crush by hand the way I do it.
(image courtesy of Google Images ©)
Once that's done, simply scoop your squares out with a spoon into a bowl. If the avocado is nice and ripe this should be easy. Once that's done, start crushing the avocado with the back side of the spoon until it's the consistency you want. Squeeze 1 or 2 small pieces of lime into the bowl and add salt to taste. Next chop a small amount of fresh tomato and onion and throw that into the bowl as well. If you don't like chunks, you don't have to include the onion or tomato. If you are blending the guac, blend the onion in to give the guac more flavor and add the tomato chunks after. Taste and as long as it's satisfactory to you, serve with chips, on burritos, or as we did here, on homemade nachos!!
(The burrito/quesadilla creation we made that night I will not describe in this entry because, to be honest, I don't remember what went into them but basically, fill a soft tortilla with whatever you like, cook in the oven and enjoy!)
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MORE TO COME LATER as it's my lunch break.
I'm currently enjoying spruced up Trader Joes vegetarian chili with tons of Trader's shredded lite mexican cheese and Cholula. Why does Cholula make everything taste so much better?!
M
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