Night 4 02/04/10 Nachos!

Hola mis amigos! Tonight was nacho night at the HCSC and they were pretty darn good and really easy to make! If I had a difficulty scale (it's been suggested I do) this dinner would rank as a 2 on my hypothetical 1-5 difficulty scale. The nachos tonight are an original recipe (which doesn't say too much, because let's face it, anyone can make nachos.) But here is my original recipe for you:

Beef mixture:
1 lb ground beef (the leaner, the better)
1/4 white onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 dash of each of the following spices:
paprika
garlic powder
salt
pepper
cayenne pepper

Cheese Sauce:
3/4 lb Velveeta
1 10 oz. can of Rotel
1 4.5 oz. can of chopped green chiles

1 bag of tortilla chips
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
sour cream

1. In a large skillet, brown the ground beef. Add in chopped onion and minced garlic and cook for about 3 more minutes. Add all the spices, and boom, beef mixture is done.

2. In a medium sauce pan on medium heat, heat the Rotel and green chiles. Cube the Velveeta and add it, continuously stirring. Keep the heat on medium or the Velveeta will burn on the bottom of the pan.

So, technically you are done after that. I put the tortilla chips into a pan, spooned the beef over top, then poured the cheese sauce on top. I sprinkled the cheddar cheese on top, and placed it in the over on 350 for 6-7 minutes. You can skip this step if you want. If you aren't eating all of it right away, I would skip this step and make individual servings as you need them, skipping the sprinkled cheese. The dish is good enough with just the cheese sauce. But since we all ate at about the same time, I baked it for a hot minute so the added cheese would melt. Then we added a little bit of sour cream on top...a little bit of added deliciousness.

WORDS OF ADVICE:
1. Tonights dinner could have easily become taco night. If you have tortillas on hand, pop them in the microwave for just a little bit (the package will specify) and serve the beef mixture and cheese sauce with additional toppings, like lettuce, tomatoes, or salsa.

2. If doing the last step of baking, do not overbake. The velveeta sauce will make the chips soggy if you over do it. Bake just until the sprinkled cheese on top melts, and not a second longer.

Well, tonight's post is short and sweet, just like dinner was. I'm not sure what the weekend dinner plans are but I doubt I will be cooking a big meal until the Superbowl party this Sunday, where we will be making different appetizers. I personally am making 2 kinds of pizza (mozzarella/fresh tomato pizza and buffalo chicken pizza) and also chocolate cream cheese cookies.

Also, a quick thank you to Jonathan Edens and Robin Asire, who have been my first comments. I will continue to do WORDS OF ADVICE, because Jonathan likes them. And yes Robin, I love allrecipes.com! It's so easy to find awesome recipes, and the comments section on each recipe fine tunes each one so it's even better. If you guys have any dinner suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Happy Eatings! Much Love!