Gaming Night!

To all the gamers out there, I am thinking of you for this post. I myself am a gamer to a point. I play World of Warcraft every day, I play Magic: The Gathering with my fiance, and I will jump on a console system every once in a while to play some of my Final Fantasy games or a rousing game of Rock Band or Guitar Hero. Patrick, however, is a gamer of epic proportions and his friends are as well. Well, gamers... I have a quick recipe for you that you can use for one of two different things. It can be nachos OR taco salads with very little effort.

This recipe will serve at least four people.

Gaming Night Nachos

2 lbs of ground chuck
3/4 cup of regular or reduced-fat sour cream
3/4 cup of salsa or diced tomatoes
One HUGE bag of Mexican blend cheese (because I don't know about you guys, but I LOVE cheese like mad on my nachos.)
Chopped fresh cilantro (not too much. You don't want to overpower the meat)
2 bags of Taco Bell taco seasoning
Bags of tortilla chips (And I'll post a quick recipe to make homemade tortilla chips if you are so inclined to make them. :)

Place the ground chuck in the pan and brown the meat until done, breaking it up as it browns. When it is done and drained of all the grease, put back into the pan and add the Taco Bell seasoning bags and the water needed. (You will read this on the bag of the seasoning bag.) Mix the meat and seasoning together until evenly seasoned and cooked into the meat.

At this point, pull out an oven-friendly platter (you can put it in the microwave too) and put loads of tortilla chips on it into a pile. Then spoon the meat out over the chips until meat is gone. Cover that with tons of cheese and put into a pre-heated oven (375 degrees) for about five minutes or until cheese is melted. (If you are using the microwave, a minute or two on high should be fine. Just use your judgement.) Then add your other ingredients. I am not going to tell you how much of everything else to put on there because it is really your preference. :) Sprinkle some fresh cilantro on top of the nachos when done and chow away! A hearty gaming snack that will make everyone happy.

Homemade Tortilla Chips

This is a very easy thing to do. Just grab some corn or flour tortillas from the grocery store and cut them into quarters. Heat up your favorite deep fryer or if you don't have one, use a 'dutch oven' with vegetable oil in it on high temperature. Test the oil to see if it is at frying temperature by putting a piece of the tortilla in and when it is, dump them in! Not all of them of course. Just about ten or so at a time so they will have room to fry evenly. Put a napkin on a platter and put the chips on them as they come out of the fryer. Let them drain for a few minutes as you start the next one and begin arranging your nacho platter!

I love this recipe because by just crushing the tortilla chips up in a bowl, you can turn this into an impromptu taco salad with little effort. This is a favorite in my household any time, especially when we have our gaming nights where we don't want to cook big meals or anything. So I hope it'll be a favorite of yours too. :)