Grilled Nachos with Chicken and Chunky Guacamole plus Grilled Mexican Tortilla Pizza

Chunky Guacamole Grilled Nachos with Chicken

It’s about time I had a new recipe, yes? Since I’m off camping (once again) this weekend, I’m posting mid-week so as not to leave you empty-handed. This time we are going to Clear Lake for an annual reunion to celebrate my uncle’s (dad’s side) birthday. This will be his 88th! Happy Birthday Uncle Joe!

Although we’ve cooled down the past few days, last week it was sweltering hot after we got back from our river camping trip. And when it’s that hot, I always fire up the grill for dinner. I thought some loaded chicken nachos sounded pretty darn good. I was going to grill the chicken, but decided instead to throw it in the crockpot with the seasonings then plug in the appliance outdoors on the deck. And then I shredded the chicken when it was done, mixed up some chunky guacamole made with a serrano pepper from my garden, assembled the nachos then slapped them on the grill! (OK I slid them, not slapped.) 😀

My Serrano Pepper Plant is Producing Awesomely!

This was a plenty filling dinner out on our deck on the patio table. I had leftover shredded chicken, black beans, and sliced olives so decided to make a Grilled Mexican Tortilla Pizza the next night. Hey you get several recipes this time! Olé!

Crockpot Taco Chicken

Chunky Guacamole Grilled Nachos with Chicken

For the chicken:

1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 tablespoon taco seasoning mix (recipe here, or store-bought)
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 lime, squeezed

Guacamole Ingredients

For the chunky guacamole:

2 medium avocados, peeled, pitted and chopped
1 medium Roma tomato, deseeded and chopped
1 serrano pepper, stem cut and deseeded and finely minced
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon cilantro
Sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste

For the nachos:

Tortilla chips
Grated block cheddar cheese (it melts better than pre-shredded)
Shredded chicken
More grated cheese
Canned black beans, rinsed and drained
Sliced black olives, drained
Chunky guacamole (recipe below)
Sour cream
Fire-roasted salsa (recipe here, or store-bought)
Chopped green onion

Shredded Chicken

Add the chicken ingredients to a crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours. Remove chicken and shred, then set aside.

Guacamole Ready to Smash

Meanwhile, prepare the chunky guacamole. Add all the prepped ingredients to a bowl, then smash up and mix with a fork until desired consistency. Cover with plastic wrap then refrigerate.

Chunky Guacamole

Preheat the grill to high heat on one side. Line a large baking sheet with foil, then layer tortilla chips in one layer on the foil. Spread with grated cheese, then chicken, then more cheese, black beans, and black olives.

Preparing the Nachos

Slide the foil sheet onto the heated side of the grill then cover, grilling for about 10 minutes until the bottoms of the chips are crispy. Move the nachos to the unheated side of the grill then cover again, grilling until the cheese has melted.

Grilling the Nachos

Slide nachos back onto the baking sheet, top with chunky guacamole, sour cream, salsa, and chopped green onion to taste. Enjoy!

Now here is a recipe for what to make with any leftover ingredients you have from the nachos, depending on the size of your family or if your teenage daughter decides she’s going to a friend’s house for dinner instead of eating your excellent nachos. Just a couple of photos with this one and paper plates, it was that kind of night!

Grilled Mexican Tortilla Pizza

10-inch flour tortillas
Oil spray
Canned black beans, rinsed and drained
2 teaspoons olive oil
Fire-roasted salsa (recipe here, or store-bought)
Cooked shredded chicken (use deli rotisserie chicken or leftovers)
Sliced black olives, drained
Thinly sliced onion
Jarred sliced jalapeños
Grated Colby Jack cheese

First add the black beans to a blender or food processor, then drizzle in olive oil and process until creamy, scraping down the sides and adding oil as needed. Set aside.

Prepping the Mexican Pizza

Preheat the grill to medium to medium-low, and spray the tortilla(s) on one side and grill for about 3 minutes, until crisp and starting to puff up on the top side. Remove to plate, then spray the non-grilled side with oil. Flip over, then spread the creamy beans evenly over the tortilla. Top evenly with salsa, shredded chicken, black olives, onion, jalapeños and cheese.

Grilling the Mexican Tortilla Pizza

Place back on grill, cover, and cook for about 5 more minutes until cheese is melted. You might need to move it to the unheated side if it’s getting too crispy on the bottom and the cheese isn’t melted yet. Add a green salad on the side, and dinner is served!

Download and Print this Yummy Recipe!

 

 

Crunchy Creamy Baked Spaghetti

Crunchy Creamy Baked Spaghetti

First off, I think it’s almost impossible to get a good picture of a casserole. I don’t care how cute your dishes are or what your background is, casseroles do not lend well to photography. So you’ll just have to trust me that this is a delicious must-try spaghetti casserole! My new go-to place for recipes is Pinterest, and I found this one there recently. It is rare I follow a recipe to the tee, and this one is no exception. I made several adaptations, but I’ll post the original recipe for you, well, because it’s nice to do that for other bloggers!

We all went back for seconds on this one. The combination of the cream cheese inside and the crunchy fried onions on top with lots of melted gooey cheese underneath just screamed comfort food! The other extra element of this was my husband’s homemade spaghetti sauce with spicy cayenne sausage, burger, mushrooms, onions, and red bell pepper. I really have to capture that recipe of his one day, because he usually makes about four quarts of it at a time and it is sooo good! If you start with a good base spaghetti sauce, this recipe will not fail you. I also used a lot of different cheeses on top before the fried onions.  This recipe also lends well to making ahead and refrigerating or freezing before reheating. My only regret with this recipe is not using a smaller casserole dish. The recipe called for an 8 x 12 dish, but I used my 9 x 13 lasagna pan instead. It made a pretty “thin” casserole so I just should have gone with my gut feeling to just use my standard 2-quart glass casserole dish instead of the lasagna pan. But it all came out good. Yummy, creamy, crunchy good!

Pan of Baked Spaghetti

Crunchy Creamy Baked Spaghetti

8 ounces uncooked spaghetti noodles
1/2 cup shredded/grated carrots
1/2 cup chopped onion  (I added a couple of chopped green onions to that too)
1 tablespoon butter
1 8-ounce brick of Neufchâtel cream cheese (1/3 less calories than regular!)
Spray oil
4 or 5 cups of good spaghetti sauce, with meat in it (or not)
About two cups of various grated cheeses (I used Parmesan, Mozzarella, and Colby Jack)
1 small container French-fried onions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees if you are going to serve right after cooking. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, add the carrots, onion, and butter to a covered microwavable dish and cook about three minutes. Take it out (it’s hot!) and let it sit while you then add the Nefuchâtel to a small bowl and microwave for about one minute to soften. Add the veggies to the cream cheese and mix well. Once the pasta is done, drain and layer evenly in the bottom of a 2-quart spray-oiled casserole dish. (Notice I did not say lasagna pan.) Next spread the cream mixture on top of that with a spatula. That can get a bit tricky. Make sure the cream cheese mixture is nice and soft, and take big spoonfuls then blob it around on top of the spaghetti then use a spatula (and fingers) to gently spread a nice even layer.  Pour the spaghetti sauce evenly over it next, and then start adding all kinds of shredded/grated cheese to the top of that. I put a bunch of different kinds on top. If I were to guess, I bet I used at least two cups.  Now either refrigerate or freeze, or pop that baby into the oven and cook for about 30 minutes or until bubbly and cheese is nice and golden and melted. In the last five minutes before serving, add the French-fried onions to the top and cook five minutes more. Dinner is served.

Here is the link to the original recipe. She named it “Scooter’s Spaghetti” after her friend who gave it to her.  🙂

http://www.salad-in-a-jar.com/family-recipes/scooters-spaghetti