One Pan Irish Nachos

We love nachos. So much, in fact, that we make them every week (Nacho Sunday!). 

Today is St. Patrick's Day, and I'm 1/4 Irish (and damn proud of it! Although I'm also damn proud to celebrate Cinco de Mayo...). It's also nacho day. I felt we should honor the Irish and the potato famine that caused so many of them to come to America (probably including my ancestors) by making our nachos Irish. 

Oh my goodness this was a good idea. Going to be doing this a lot more often.

This is called "one pan" because other than a butcher block to chop the veggies the whole thing was made in one cast iron skillet, and then we ate directly out of it. It was glorious.

Ingredients:

Potatoes

Soyrizo

Corn

Cheese

Bell pepper

Tomatoes

Cilantro

Avocado

Sour cream

Spices

Heat the cast iron skillet for a couple of minutes, then add a small layer of olive oil. Chop the potatoes into bite sized pieces and put them in the pan. Season generously with salt and pepper and whatever other spices you want. 

If you don't have a cast iron skillet, get one. The twenty bucks you'll spend is way, way worth it. Cast iron skillets keep very even heat on the whole thing so every piece gets cooked the exact same amount, preventing overcooking some pieces while barely cooking others. Plus, you can stick them in the oven. Seriously, they're great.

While those are cooking, chop the veggies and shred the cheese. We used the same veggies we do in regular nachos, but I imagine a wider variety of toppings will be good. Green onions, specifically.

Wow, that's a terrible picture... But you get the idea.

Once the potatoes are a few minutes away from being ready, add the soyrizo to the pan. I scooped half the potatoes on top of each other to make room. Once that was just about done, I added some corn. You could also add beans to make it real nachos, but there's so much going on you don't need to.

And then some cheese.

And then put it in the oven. That's probably one of the greatest things about cast iron - goes right from the stove to the oven. Just remember that the whole skillet is hot, so you absolutely need to use an oven mitt. Cook the skillet at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes, or until the cheese is as bubbly as you like.

Then put all the vegetables on it! So good. How good? We made this early in the evening after not having lunch, and because we're fat kids we were kind of hungry again at our normal dinner time (8-9pm), so we made a second batch. It really is amazing we don't weigh more.

LOOK AT HOW PRETTY IT IS!

Naturally, it being St. Patrick's Day and all, we paired it with Harp. And it was good.

Total Cost: less than $10, feeds two fat kids 

Total Time: ~25 minutes

Note: In this particular post, most of the photos are courtesy of my phone, which, while awesome and pretty decent at playing camera, is no match for Rich's actual camera. So if the pics look like cell phone pics, it's 'cause they are. Especially the one of the potatoes and soyrizo... it's like I didn't even look at it after. Ugh.

Tweet

Black Bean Enchiladas Suizas

Enchilaaadaaaaaaas

Before Rich and I got together I made these enchiladas once or twice a month (or more) with my lady friend. They're fantastically delicious and easy enough to make a giant pan to have leftovers for a couple of days (or feed several people). I made them for the first birthday I spent with Rich and they were gobbled up. Fast forward to very recently when Rich asks why I haven't made the enchiladas since his birthday almost a year ago.

Ummm... 

Probably because we've been making these every week? 

Oh god... tomorrow is Nacho Night.

Anyway, now that the weather is potentially getting cooler I think these babies will have to make a comeback. I've also made a promise to not let it get that long in between enchilada nights (which, honestly, I'm kind of surprised at myself... I love these things!). 

Ingredients:

Tortillas

Cheese (pepper jack, but cheddar or Monterey Jack works)

Black beans

Corn

Large can of verde sauce

Toppings (jalapenos, hot sauce, black olives, bell peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, green onions, avocado, sour cream, whatevs)

Get enough ingredients to fill a 13x9" pan and you'll feed the whole house for two days. Seriously. It's a good idea to warm the tortillas so they're pliable and can be rolled without breaking in half. I use a tortilla warmer (my favorite kitchen tool) but a damp paper towel over a stack of tortillas in the microwave works, too.

The great beginnings.

Spoon black beans and corn into the middle of a tortilla and top with a small fingerfull of cheese (you can also put the jalapenos in the tortilla). Roll it up nice and tight and place it in the pan. You don't want the tortillas to be too full or they won't roll very well. Repeat this until you have a full pan of rolled tortillas.

Saucy!

Sometimes we end up with leftover ingredients and I'll spoon them over the top of the pan. Cover the whole pan with the verde sauce and sprinkle a good amount of cheese over the top. Get the corners so it comes out a little crunchy. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes or until the cheese is as bubbly as you like it or until the smell is too overpowering to wait any longer.

Cheese!

Once it's done, top with whatever toppings you like. I always have black olives, sour cream and hot sauce, but it goes so well with everything else, too. 

Ah. Maze. ING!

Nom.

Damn, I totally want enchiladas now. Here it is again, just because it's so delicious looking.

NOM

Total Cost: $11-$17 including toppings (feeds 4-8)

Total Time: 45 minutes

Tweet

Portobello and Eggplant Tacos

Please oh please click on the picture for a bigger shot. It's so pretty.

This truly genius idea came about when I asked Rich one night what he wanted for dinner and he said eggplant, and this eggplant jambalaya dish we make (that will make its way on here eventually...) just wasn't doing it for us. Rich introduced me to the vegetarian taco at Fred's Mexican Cafe here in Old Town and I've ordered it every time since then: portobello mushroom, eggplant, corn, avocado and cotija cheese. So. Frickin. Good. 

And then the lightbulb went off and we realized we can make them. OURSELVES! It was every bit as good as we imagined and then some, and they turned out even better than the ones in the restaurant (if we do say so ourselves). The only disappointment was preparing a whole cookie tray of veggies thinking it would be more than enough, and it so wasn't. We're fat kids... I should have known. But we had leftover raw veggies so this was also lunch the next day, and I have a feeling we'll be eating this again soon and frequently.

Ingredients:

Eggplant

Portobello mushrooms

Corn

Avocado

Mexican cheese (cotija, pepper jack)

Tortillas

Salsa

Seasonings (garlic, salt and pepper)

Chop the eggplant and mushrooms to thick bite sized pieces and spread on a cookie sheet with the corn.  Cover everything with a healthy coating of your seasonings, and flip or stir so the seasons get on all sides. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes on each side, flipping once.

Once the veggies are done to your liking (the mushrooms get a little brown and juicy) warm your tortillas and spoon the mixture into them. Top with avocado, shredded cheese and a tiny spoonful of salsa. 

We had enough veggies prepared for each of us to have four tacos, but that still wasn't enough. These were so good. So good, in fact, that here's another photo just to showcase the delicious goodness that these tacos are. 

Are the skies opening up and angels singing? I realize this is tooting my own horn quite a bit but they really are fantastic; the ingredients work together perfectly. This would be even better with roasted corn from the cob. Next time!

Total cost: ~$10 (essentially feeds 4)

Total cook time: ~35 minutes

Tweet

Five Layer Dip

This should have been a six layer dip, but I forgot the salsa, and the bottom layer was, like, 7 layers in and of itself thanks to the joy that is leftovers. 

I seriously love leftovers. We know people who do not like leftovers, and to us they're just crazy. Sometimes the best part about a meal is the leftovers (hello, turkey sandwiches the day after Thanksgiving?), especially when that meal gets to marinate in itself overnight, becoming even more flavorful and delicious. 

The bottom layer of this bean dip is actually the rest of the stuffed bell peppers we made last week, which were bomb (go check out that recipe, it's amazing). Basically beans, rice, tomatoes, soyrizo and a ton of spices. And corn, I'm pretty sure there's corn in there.

This photo does a much better job of showcasing the layers:

Bean mixture

Sour cream

Cheese

Avocado

Cilantro (not pictured... it didn't occur to me until right before eating it to use cilantro)

Just goes to show that every bit can be used and reused. We threw this together in about 5 minutes; it would have taken 10 if I wasn't lazy and actually mashed the avocado into guac with some tomatoes, but it worked this way.

Tweet

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Even though stuffed bell peppers should be the easiest fancy dish ever, this took us a couple tries to get right. The first time I was going off of several different internet recipes that all said to use uncooked rice, so I also used uncooked rice despite thinking it wasn't going to work. I was right and it did not work. Rich still says the first try was great, except for the rice, but I couldn't get past the hundreds of hard little uncooked rice grains... so the second time around I cooked the rice first.

Ingredients:

Bell peppers

Tomatoes

Onion

Garlic

Soyrizo (or ground meat)

Cheese (pepper jack and Colby work really well)

Mushrooms

Rice

Worcestershire sauce

Cilantro

Corn

Green onions

Black beans

Canned tomatoes

Canned diced peppers

Seasonings

Whatever else sounds good, honestly

This is a prettier photo than boiling rice, even if the step is useless.

All of the other internet recipes said to boil the bell peppers for five minutes to get the skins softer and more prepared to be baked, but the second time around we skipped this step and it didn't make any difference whatsoever. I'd say skip this step for the sake of time and all that water. Instead, use that water to boil your rice!

Cook the soyrizo! Seriously, soyrizo is the best meat-ish thing to put in a stuffed bell pepper. It has such a great flavor on its own that it imparts to the dish as a whole that ground beef or even ground turkey just won't be able to match. Go generous with the soyrizo because there's plenty of other ingredients that'll try to steal its thunder.

Add the diced onion (like, half the onion), chopped garlic, and for funzies some chopped bell pepper. I'm pretty sure there's some diced eggplant in this photo too... these two tries taught us that it really doesn't matter what you stuff inside a bell pepper as long as it tastes good to you.

 This mix is good all on its own.

Add the canned tomatoes, diced tomatoes, canned diced peppers (or diced jalapenos), black beans, corn, cilantro, green onions, Worcestershire sauce (about a table spoon), whatever seasonings you like, and mushrooms, if you like them cooked. I prefer fresh mushrooms so they were more garnish than ingredient.

Hollowed peppers

Cut out and clean the bell peppers. You can do them two ways: like a bucket, above, or like boats, below. The first time we used buckets because the peppers were small and were able to stand up on their own (you could also cut portions off the bottom to help them stand upright), but the second time we did it boat style because they were much bigger and more weirdly shaped. I like boat style best because it's easier to eat.

Boats!

Spoon the delicious goodness that you've prepared (remember to mix the rice in) into your bell peppers. Fill those guys up to the brim and get the mix into the little crannies that bell peppers have. If you're doing them bucket style pack it in 'till it's almost overflowing. We also mixed some shredded cheese into the mix before stuffing the bell peppers to make it creamier.

Cheesey bell peppers

Top with cheese! The blend of Colby/Cheddar with pepper jack cheese is really pretty and it melts perfectly and the tastes complement each other. The meltyness helps keep the goods in the pepper.

Buckets!

Here are cheesy stuffed bell peppers boat style. These stood up in an 8x8 baking dish. (Because we're fatties, we each ate two... but when properly prepared and with rice they can be a meal on their own.)

That one has a chipotle cheese that I wanted to try. Yum.

Line the dish with foil (though I'm not sure what that does) and set up the bell peppers so that they won't move around. We fit 6 large halves together in a 13x9 baking dish. Cover the whole thing with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Check on them and if they look like they need a bit longer keep them in the oven another 10 minutes.

Maybe top with some mushrooms, or cilantro, or green onion and DIG IN. This is a super hearty meal that's surprisingly healthy and pretty impressive if you're going to serve a group (you could make a big pot of the mix ahead of time and bake the peppers right before guests arrive). Yum!

Tweet

Chili Cheese Fries

Yes, all of this is homemade. Drool.

Chili is the perfect cold weather food and French fries are the perfect American comfort food, so it only makes sense that combining these two things and topping it with a healthy amount of cheese is pretty frickin' delicious. This is a vegetarian recipe but my meat-eating boyfriend will attest that you don't miss the meat. But if you really want meat in it? Brown some ground whatever in the pan after the onions.

Ingredients:

Black beans

Kidney beans

Bell pepper

Onion

Corn

Diced tomatoes

Chilies

Tomato paste

Potatoes

Vegetable Oil
Olive oil

Salt
Red pepper flakes (or chili powder or anything spicy)

Pepper

Garlic

Dried basil
Cilantro
Cheese

One of the best smells your kitchen will ever experience.

Dice the onion and garlic (I seriously love garlic and it's good for you, so I used a whole one) and cook in a thin layer of olive oil on medium heat for about 5-10 minutes, or just until the onion starts to look transparent. Or when your kitchen smells amazing.

Spices make the chili.

Add the can of diced tomatoes, chilies (or a can of tomatoes with chilies to save a step), corn and whatever spices you want to throw in there. Think basil, chili powder, red pepper flakes, that Trader Joe's Smoke Seasoning I mentioned earlier, basil and anything else along those lines. Stir it all up.

The texture part of chili.

Add about a half can of tomato paste (keep in mind that a can of tomato paste is very small - see the ingredients photo) and the bell pepper. Make sure the paste is blended well and taste the mix so far. If the paste taste is too strong add more seasonings.

Nom.

Now add the beans and cilantro! It should be starting to look like chili. The mixture is supposed to cook on low-medium for an hour, but we got impatient and ate after 30 minutes. 

 The ever versatile potato.

This is a really convenient time to make the French fries. I included a picture, but for a reminder on how to cook them (chop, fry, dry, salt) go here.

Drooooooooool.

Spoon the chili mixture onto a plate of fries, top with cheese and chopped cilantro and eat while the cheese is melting. Homemade chili cheese fries really are so satisfying. And the great thing about making your own chili is that it costs like $5 and there's a ton of it leftover the next day (when the flavors really come together), especially if you spoon it over some rice or corn bread. You can top chili with sour cream, avocado or whatever tickles your fancy.


And now I'm hungry again.

Tweet

Tuna Casserole

Warm and gooey deliciousness!

Rich makes the ultimate comfort food: tuna casserole. Loaded with tuna and cheesy goodness and perfect for an after work weeknight or cold weekend. Or really any time. Because how delicious does this look? Pretty darn delicious.

Ingredients:

Pasta shells

Tuna

Corn

Cream of mushroom soup

Cheese

Step 1. Not so hard, right?

Boil the pasta shells. You don't have to use shells, but don't they look fun? Plus they fit on forks quite nicely.

They really do look fun.

Drain the shells and run them under cold water to stop the cooking process. You'll be baking them so you don't want them to overcook and get soggy.

 It's only good cause of the cream of mushroom.

Mix the shells with a can of cream of mushroom soup, a cup of corn and 2-4 cans of tuna (depending on how meaty you want it...).

 Cheeeeeeeeese.

Top the thing with cheese and pop it in the oven! Bake it really hot, at like 400 degrees, because you just want the cheese to get bubbly and crispy, not overcook the pasta. Leave it in for about 20 minutes, or as long as it takes to get the level of cheesyness that you want.

Devour!

We made this in a 8x8 pan for us two and it fed us fat kids twice (very generous portions both times). You could make this in a 13x9 pan for a family or company with 4 cans of tuna and 2 cans of cream of mushroom.

Tweet