Nachos, what more can be said. Well other than the fact that they are one of the ultimate meals to satisfy that crunchy, salty, finger-food, hearty, comforting desire. And when they are healthy, well it would be rude not to dig in.

I have had a major love affair for nachos since my university days as they were an easy and cheap meal to throw together and satisfied my hearty hunger every time. I used to do something similar to this recipe except for one extra topping: cheese. I’ve always loved a tonne of tortilla chips with salsa, guacamole and jalapenos but always added cheese. As I no longer eat any animal products and solely eat a plant based diet, I have absolutely no desire to eat cheese ever again. In fact, it surprises me now how much I used to love the stuff and now the idea of it makes me want to vomit. Anyway moving on…I haven’t had nachos for a few years but a few months ago (this might be pregnant related) I wanted to make nachos. I love finger-food as it just satisfies on so many levels and I really fancied the loaded tortilla chip goodness. It was time to make some nachos.

I found some great tortilla chips and I’m loving the R.W. Garcia Organic Blue Corn Tortilla Chips which are gluten free and have the right salty-crunchy satisfaction. It’s easy peasy to make salsa and guacamole, but I wondered if I would miss the cheese. I wanted another topping and tried something I’ve never done before on nachos (wild!!) and decided to use black beans. Well, after throwing it all together and diving right in my mouth was full of amazing sensations and every bit of wild urge for nachos was hit. I was not deprived; in fact, I was fully elated with a loaded nacho party in my mouth. I have made this nacho party (for myself) a few times since and enjoyed every mouthful.

I simply adore avocado, tomatoes, coriander and a bit of spice so Mexican style food is always a hit. Tortilla chips are the bomb, however I also love tortilla wraps for fajitas and will be experimenting with a few different plant based concoctions in the next couple of weeks…YUM! I am literally in foodie heaven when diving into food like this that leaves your hands an absolute mess and your body just full of hearty healthy comfort food. And yes this is healthy as it is full of fibre, folate, vitamin C, healthy fats, deliciously healthy carbs and protein. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend eating salty tortilla chips everyday as I prefer to get sodium from natural plant foods (which is easy to do when eating a huge variety everyday), however some doses of salt every now and then is more than delicious and can be good for the body.

These nachos are loaded with the yum-factor, satisfying, crunchy, hearty, salty, spicy, fresh, healthy and just darn good. So yes, you should try them. Feel free to make it your own by creating your own version of salsa and guacamole, and if you like more spice add a hot sauce on top of the mighty pile of nachos.

Here’s the recipe for the ultimate super easy nachos.

DAIRY FREE | GLUTEN FREE | REFINED SUGAR FREE | EGG FREE | NUT FREE | VEGAN

The Ultimate Super Easy Nachos

Ingredients

Serves 1 to 2

• Loads of tortilla chips (I love R.W. Garcia Organic Blue Corn Tortilla Chips which are gluten free and totally crunchy delicious!)
• 1 x 400g can cooked black beans (I use Biona organic black beans in water)
• 3 to 4 salad tomatoes
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 small avocado or ½ large avocado, ripe
• Juice of 1 lime
• Fresh coriander
• Jalapenos (you can use fresh or jarred, I prefer the jarred variety for nachos. If using fresh slice them up)

Method

1. Place the tortilla chips on a big plate.
2. For the salsa: chop the salad tomatoes into small chunks, add to a bowl along with the juice of 1 lemon and some chopped fresh coriander. Mix together.
3. For the guacamole: add the fresh ripe avocado to a bowl along with the juice of 1 lime. Mash until you get your preferred consistency then add some chopped fresh coriander and mix together.
4. Drain some of the water from the can of black beans but leave some to use. Heat a non-stick pan to a low-medium heat then add the black beans with some water. You can always add more water if necessary. Heat the black beans through and allow the water to reduce making a slighter thicker and richer consistency of the black beans. Remove from the heat and then place the beans on the tortilla chips.
5. Then add the fresh tomato salsa, guacamole and plenty of jalapeno pepper slices.
6. Dive straight in and get those hands messy. Enjoy!
7. (I enjoy all of this to myself, there’s no room for sharing haha).

FEEL GOOD WITH FOOD…AND CARBS!