Day 4: Nacho-libre!

I've been craving nachos lately, but I'm so over the regular beef/kidney bean/cheese microwaved combo we tend to do around here for a quick nacho fix.

So we headed out to Ghetto-F-C (our local grocery store) to see what we could rustle up for something new.

Chicken Nachos O' Awesome

Meet your ingredients. 

We have some sliced black olives (it's a me thing, Dragon hates them). Kidney beans (it's a Dragon thing, because he's weird). Rosarita no-fat refried beans with lime and green chilis (first time trying this for me and wow... so yummeh!). Scoops chips, 4 cheese mexi-blend, mexi-style sour cream, and, of course, the chicken.

This particular chicken is (according to the sticker) great for fajitas and pre-seasoned. Saves some time in the kitchen, and was our first time trying it. If you can't find any of this style of chicken, regular chicken strips sauteed in a little oil and dusted with taco seasoning works just fine. 

What I really liked about the chicken, aside from the time saving aspect of coming pre-seasoned, was that the heat level was just right: warming, but not insanely spicy. Fragrant. Delicious. 

And in a non-stick pan, you might not even need oil (I didn't) so that's a plus on the healthy side, right? 

Speaking of healthy: I'm pretty sure this would work just fine with low fat cheese and light sour cream. If, y'know, you roll like that. We do, about 90% of the time, but sometimes you just gotta go full fat for a change. 

Once the chicken was cooked through, I ran a knife through the strips to make them small and bite-sized. You don't need strips of chicken on your nachos. Go shredded or tiny slices. You get more flavor mingling that way.

While all this was going on, the oven was being preheated to 375-degrees (F), because didn't want to chuck this in the microwave. I was feeling snobby. 

Eh. It is what it is. 

Since Dragon has his weird tastes, and I have mine, we made two separate dishes. In his, it was the chicken, chips, cheese, kidney beans combo. -->

In mine: chicken, chips, cheese, refried beans, and olives. (See next photo.)

If you feel the need to add peppers, tomatillo/salsa, whatever else floats your boat, feel free. There's really no wrong way to make nachos. 

Into the oven they go for 15 minutes, until that cheese gets all bubbly and melty, and everything is heated through deliciously. 

And that's really all there is to it. Let them cool down a bit before you dive in.

I added a touch of sour cream to mine as a finisher, and let me tell you, utter tasty awesomeness.

Have fun!

~Snarkstress