Nachology

Who doesn't love nachos??

That is what we had for dinner tonight. The hubby was very happy.

Nachos for dinner or a late-night snack started when I was a kid and I'd thwap slices of Velveeta on chips and melt it in the microwave. As my tastes grew, and the access to Mexican products in the grocery store was increased, it was always common to have cheese, chips, refried beans, salsa, pickled jalepenos and other tasty morsels around when the urge hit.

The first time I had the hubby over when we started dating and he mentioned he was hungry, I asked if he wanted some nachos. He expected melty cheese poured out of a jar on top of chips. Ten minutes later I came out of the kitchen with tortilla chips piled high with beans, meat, salsa, cheese and sour cream. It might have been one of the first moments he fell in love with me.

So, tonight it was nachos for dinner.

But hey, aren't you supposed to be dieting???

Nachos aren't hard to make "friendlier" when you're doing them in your own home.

Start with a single layer of chips.

See? Not too bad. It's not that many chips. And I usually only eat about 1/4 of that plate, leaving the other 3/4 for the hubby. Have I mentioned yet that I'm often baffled that I'm the one with the weight problem, and not him???

And that is my "nacho baker"... a must if you're going to do them in the oven (even though I don't). But also nice if you nuke them since it keeps them warm longer.

On top of that, some ground lean meat (and I will admit, I use a taco seasoning packet and have no shame about it, I only like the Lawreys one) and beans. Tonight was beef, but I often do chicken or turkey and it's all good. I also had a glut of green onions in the fridge, so I chopped up some and threw them on.

Hungry yet??

About 4 ounces of cheese, some salsa, and some chopped pickled jalepenos. YUM.


Who wouldn't love that??


I did go with full-fat cheese, mostly because I've got tons of it in the fridge. I have done reduced fat cheese, not that bad. But any time I'm trying to have reduced fat cheese as the "melty" top layer in anything, I find it works much better in the microwave where the moisture helps keep the cheese from getting all rubbery and dried out.


Three minutes in the microwave, and it's melty goodness.


If I've thought ahead to have an avocado, I'll dot guac on the top. I'll usually mix a little sour cream with some milk (to thin it out) and go all Jackson Pollock with it over the top (less calories than blops, and better coverage).


The tummy is happy tonight. I did miss my excercise window because the hubby wanted to watch Life on Mars and tape something else, but no bigger. I might recover and get it my excercise on Thursday.