Ultimate Nachos

      This is a recipe I designed especially for my husband.  Whenever I made tacos he would skip the tortilla and go strait for the chips.  I was wondering how I could make his addiction to nachos a little healthier so I made up the Ultimate Nachos.  Basically it's all your favorite taco flavors mixed with black beans and a ton of veggies.  James doesn't even like black beans, but they are so good for you I mix them in and he eats them up.   You could use this recipe as a filling for your tacos, or layer it with corn tortillas in a 8x8 pan and bake it to make Mexican Lasagna.  If you're having a group over to watch football you could put this meal in a crock pot on low and let your guests make their own nacho bowls. 

Ingredients:

2lbs ground beef                                    7.50
2 cans black beans                                1.32
     (rinsed and drained)
30 oz diced tomatoes with green chilies  2.04
2 Small or 1 Large green pepper            1.20
2 stalks celery                                          .22
1 medium onion                                       .30
1 large carrot                                           .20
1 bunch cilantro                                       .74
1 1/2 C frozen corn                                  .25
2 envelopes taco seasoning                     1.00

Toppings:

sour cream                             1.00
shredded cheese                     4.08
Jalapenos                               2.78
Tortilla chips                           3.48

Directions:

In a large pan brown and drain the ground beef--set aside.  Chop the onion, celery and green pepper.  Peel and grate the carrot.  Add about 1 Tbsp olive oil to the pan and add the onion, celery, green pepper, carrot and corn.  Cook for about 5-7 min until crisp tender.

 Add in the cooked ground beef, drained beans and drained diced tomatoes.   Stir in the two envelopes of taco seasoning.  Stir gently and heat through.  Because the veggies give off water you wont need to add any extra water with the seasoning mix.  Once mixed turn off heat and stir in a handful of chopped cilantro.

Colorful huh?  Now split into three containers.  One is for dinner and two are to freeze.  When ready to eat, heat up a container on the stove until warm.  Serve a scoop of the meat mixture in a bowl and top with sour cream, jalapenos and cheddar cheese.  Eat with tortilla chips or over rice. 

When freezing the left over cheese make sure to grate all the cheese and split into three sandwich baggies.  If you freeze the whole block of cheese it will be very crumbly when you thaw it.  If you pre-shred or buy shredded cheese it will freeze and thaw much better. 

I made three meals for $8.70 each including chips and toppings. 

Enjoy! 

Christie aka Keeza