I made food: nachos!

Yep, another cooking post this week! Mr. ALIQUID has the week off from work, so we decided to mix it up a little with our dinner plans (normally we have very similar dinners from week to week). My craving for Mexican food hit me again, so I made nachos! I got the basic procedure from my dad, who's been making awesome nachos for years.

Nachos are one of those great dishes that you can make virtually any way you want as long as you keep the basics the same: chips + toppings + cheese. Here's what I did...

I heated up a mix of refried black and pinto beans (plus a little water) on the stovetop and added a packet of taco seasoning; if you want to avoid the prepackaged stuff, I imagine a blend of chili powder, cumin, garlic powder and salt would do the trick. You can of course use any combo of meat, beans and rice for your topping, just make sure the meat is fully cooked before you put it on your nachos. About 1 to 1.5 pounds of topping should be enough.

I put down a layer of corn chips on a large rimmed baking sheet; make sure to fill in all the gaps, but don't overlap them too much or you'll end up with the dreaded topping-less chip. Then I added my beans on top. Don't be too heavy-handed with this part, or the chips will get soggy and collapse under the weight.

I sprinkled chopped onions and cherry tomatoes all over, plus fresh jalapenos on my husband's half (I'm still a wuss). Finally, the cheese! I used a whole two-cup bag of shredded "Mexican blend" cheese.

Stick the nachos in the oven at 325 degrees for about 20 minutes. This will melt the cheese, soften the veggies and remove sogginess from the toppings and chips. One large tray will feed four regular people or two very hungry people!

We ate our nachos with homemade guacamole (just avocado, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper). Oh so delicious...

I made food: black bean quesadillas

Today I indulged my craving for Mexican food once again by making black bean quesadillas with homemade pico de gallo and guacamole. I decided to try using an actual Mexican cheese rather than the Kraft "Mexican blend" stuff that comes shredded in bags. I ended up buying queso panela, which I've never had before, but the description sounded promising. It turned out to be very mild, like a salty mozzarella (very similar texture too). It didn't actually melt fully, but got very soft.

There really isn't anything better than fresh guacamole, is there? Mine just has tomato, onion, lime juice, cilantro, salt and pepper. (You may notice that I didn't put any jalapenos or anything in. I'm a real wuss when it comes to spicy stuff; it's really just a painful distraction from the food to me!) Alongside my quesadillas I had a salad with oil, lime juice, pepper, and some pomegranate-flavored craisins. I just love that almost everything in my dinner was fresh and easy to make! (Yeah OK, I got the beans from a can, so sue me!)