Grande Nachos
If you don't want to spend the money at a Mexican restaurant or fast food place, but you want easy to make nachos that can be a meal on its own, try this Americanized version of a nacho meal. This is big enough for a family of 4. You can prepare it on one big plate for everyone to share or prepare individual plates for everyone. If you have a disposable, aluminum pie plates to serve, it makes for easy clean up and less mess. If you have a large platter, you can use it to serve the whole family.
- 1 can nacho cheese soup [* see below if you do not have access to nacho cheese soup]
- 1 can refried beans
- 2 packages taco seasoning mix
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 head shredded lettuce
- 1 tomato diced
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 cup guacamole
- 1 cup salsa
- 1/4 cup sliced jalepeno peppers
- 1/8 cup chopped chives
- 1 large bag (2 or more pounds) tortilla chips (found with other chips and snacks)
Crumble ground beef and fry until brown. Drain fat. Add taco mix with 1/4 cup water and stir. Move meat to the side and add refried beans. Let simmer on low until the beans are cooked and the sauce is thickened.
In another pan, cook the nacho cheese soup according to directions on the can.
On a platter or in the separate plates, spread out the chips covering the bottom of the dish and filling it up about 4 layers. In the center, add the beans. Surround the beans with the beef. Cover beef and beans with the salsa. On the outer edges, pour on the nacho cheese sauce. Cover the nachos with lettuce and tomatoes. Put a dollop of sour cream and guacamole on top of the lettuce and tomatoes. Scatter jalepeno peppers and chives around the top of the nachos. It is ready to serve.
*As the phenomena of nacho soup and products such as Velveeta seems to be mostly an American thing, here is an alternative for you if you live in the UK or Europe, go to Skyco and order Velveeta online.
To make your own nacho cheese soup:
- 8 ounces processed cheese such as Velveeta cut in cubes
- 2 ounces milk
- 1/4 teaspoon red [cayenne] pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 3 tablespoons salsa
In a small saucepan, heat milk with the cumin and pepper [do not boil it] then add the cheese, stirring it until the cheese is smoothly melted and blended with the heated milk. Then stir in salsa. Remove from heat and do not cover [that will form a yucky skin on the top].
The consistency will start out as a bit on the runny side, but will firm up within a few minutes. If you do not have access to processed blocks of cheese like Velveeta, try using 16 slices of processed cheddar cheese [does not work well with other types of cheese such as jack or swiss]. Regular blocks of cheese do not tend to melt smoothly and will clump which is why it needs to be processed.
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