(Not-So) Trashy Nachos

Hosting friends for tasty food and drinks is one of my favourite things to do. I love the social aspect of food and how well it brings people together. There's no greater feeling than feeding people something you cooked from scratch (even if it is trashy nachos). Whether staying in listening to vinyl, or going out for drinks and dancing, it's important to feed your friends to start the night off proper. Hosting friends is fairly cheap and definitely beats late night McDonald's or shitty sports bar nachos by a long-shot.

To class up this mountain of delicious food - while simultaneously adding a fresh taste to an otherwise greasy dish, I added peashoots. Microgreens make any dish look better, they even work on something as simple as nachos for a crowd. Peashoots are one of my favourite greens to keep on hand. You can grow them on your counter and only harvest as many as you need for a dish to keep them fresh.

What you'll need:

Mexican Beef

• 2 lbs Lean Ground Beef

• 2 medium Spanish Onions

• 3 Cloves of fresh Ontario Garlic (minced)

• 2 tbsp dried Cumin

• 1 tbsp dried Chili Powder

• 1 tbsp dried Cayenne

• 1 tbsp Cinnamon Powder

• 1 Lime (zest + juice)

• Sea Salt (to taste)

• Pepper (to taste)

Spanish Rice

• 1 cup Parboiled Rice

• 1 tbsp Chili Powder

• 1 tbsp dried Cumin

• 1 tbsp dried Oregano

• Sea Salt (to taste)

• Pepper (to taste)

Preparation:

Cover baking sheet with parchment paper and place a layer of tortilla chips down - I use thin tortilla chips for their optimal texture. Garnish with shredded jalapeno Havarti and old cheddar, fresh jalapenos, Spanish rice, and Mexican beef. Then more chips, cheese, and toppings. Do two or three layers for ultimate nachos. Bake until cheese has melted on the bottom layer and garnish with fresh peashoots, jalapenos, and tomatoes.