Nachos

It's no secret that my family likes to shop and keep our pantry well-stocked with all sorts of food items ranging from canned goods, nuts, chips, crackers, pasta, grains, dried fruit, granola, chocolate...you name it, we probably have it. However occasionally it happens that our pantry becomes too full (generally after a big Costco trip) and we have to go through it and sort that which we don't need/will never use.

Last week, while cleaning through the pantry my mom came across a half-eaten bag of tortilla chips leftover from some picnic. Not wanting to eat them plain, but also wanting to get rid of the bag and not waste the chips we thought it would be a great idea to re-purpose them into nachos. Nachos are wonderful because you can literally put anything you want on the tortilla chips, stick it in the oven, and have a meal ready in ten minutes. Also, depending on what you top them with, nachos can serve as both an appetizer or main course. In my family we tend to put a lot of toppings so they become quite filling and we serve it as a main course, such as a lazy brunch.

Nachos
Note: Generally we put ground beef on our nachos but they can also be prepared using other meats or vegetarian. Also, the recipe below does not have quantities because these are just suggestions...make as little or as much as you want.

• Tortilla chips
• Cooked beef (I used the recipe from my Mexican Beef Lettuce Wraps)
• Diced tomatoes
• Salsa
• Sour cream
• Shredded cheese 

1. Spread a layer of tortilla chips evenly across a baking pan.
2. Top with ground beef, making sure to cover most of the tortilla chips.
3. Spread the diced tomatoes over the ground beef.
4. Use a large spoon to dollop the sour cream and salsa over top. Roughly spread it across so that most of the meat is covered.
5. Sprinkle the shredded cheese over top. (Don't skimp on the cheese...more is better!)
6. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10-13 minutes, or until the cheese on top is bubbling and the tortilla chips around the edges are crisp.