Fiesta Nachos

I hate football. This is no secret.  But I like to make food for football parties, as long as I don't have to watch the game.  So these nachos were my offering to the opening night of football season last month.

If I am being honest, they didn't start out as nachos, and that wasn't the plan for them either.  The recipe I was following was not called fiesta nachos, but fiesta lettuce wraps.  Slightly healthier and a little less football-y.  I decided to toss the lettuce, add chips, cheese and jalapeños, and call it nachos.  I would have to say this was a very good idea.  The lettuce wrap filling was the perfect vegetarian nacho topping!  There are red and yellow peppers, red onion, and black beans.  They're flavored with garlic, cilantro, chili powder, cumin, and lime juice - not to mention a sour cream sauce with more lime juice and zest and cilantro.  Mmmmm.  I added the sauce before I cooked the nachos, because I don't really love cold sauce on hot nachos, but it's up to you if you want them to be a cool dipping sauce or something.  Bottom line: these nachos almost make football not so terrible.

Oh, if you want to make these into the lettuce wraps they were meant to be, buy yourself some Bibb lettuce and leave out the chips, cheese and jalapeños.  The preparation is the same otherwise.  If that's what you're doing, you will notice that the veggies never get cooked.  Everything is raw in the wraps; the vegetables and spices meld together in the refrigerator for a few hours.  I can't tell you how that is since I used my filling up on the nachos, but I imagine it would be great.

Recipe:

fiesta nachos
adapted from Girl Gone Gourmet
serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:
1/2 medium red bell pepper, diced
1/2 medium yellow pepper, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 tablespoon cumin
juice from 1/2 lime
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cup shredded Mexican cheese
1/2 bag tortilla chips
1/4 cup jarred sliced jalapeños

for sour cream sauce:
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 tablespoon cilantro
zest from 1/2 lime
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Toss the first 12 ingredients all together in a medium-sized bowl.

2) Make sour cream sauce by mixing all ingredients in a small bowl.

2) Lay chips on a baking sheet in an even layer.  Spread toppings over chips as evenly as possible.  Add jalapeños.  Add dollops of sour cream sauce on top; reserve some for dipping.  Bake for 5 - 10 minutes, until cheese is melted.