Here's my big tip for nights when you are too busy to spend a half hour in the kitchen cooking: Plan to make a crockpot meal, a make-ahead meal that all you have to do is reheat, or in this case, a meal when you can do the prep early in the week and then assemble within minutes.
I work every Thursday and get home around 6:30-6:45pm....much too tired, exhausted and hungry to spend any time cooking. I was getting sick of the crockpot meals (I don't know how the CrockPot Lady does it!) and decided to switch it up a bit and make a treat I knew my husband would appreciate. Nacho's.
If you fry your beef earlier in the week and/or prechop the veggies, then assembling this takes only minutes. And it's fun and delicious.
We love to eat these on a Friday night for Family Nacho/Movie Night. We bust out the tv trays and dip and eat and watch until our hearts content. Of course you don't need to eat this for supper, but you could also serve it at a party as an appetizer or when you are in the mood for going out with friends and having a beer and some appies. You will save yourself a load of money doing it at home.
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1 bag of tortilla chips (or baked tortilla chips)
Ground beef
Pkg taco seasoning
Green onions
Tomatoes, seeded and diced
Lettuce, thinly shredded
Cheddar cheese, shredded
Salsa
Sour Cream
(Base all the amounts on how much your family will eat)
Brown your ground beef. To save time, do it earlier in the week or when you are making another ground beef meal. In my case, the day before I made Spaghetti Bolognaise so I browned up 1lb of ground beef with 1/2 a diced onion. I took out 1/3 of the beef and mixed in some taco seasoning and put it in a contatiner in the fridge for my Nacho's. I made my Bolognaise sauce with the remaining 2/3 - doing it this way means absolutely NO extra effort.
Another way to save time, is doing the rest of your prep work earlier in the week or the night before. Shred your cheese, seed and dice your tomatoes and chop your onions.
Assembling the Nacho's means preheating your oven to 450 degrees, spreading out a layer of tortilla chips, topping with seasoned ground beef and sprinkling with shredded cheddar cheese. Put in the oven until nice and melted. Top with green onions, tomatoes, lettuce and serve with salsa and sour cream. Also delicious with refried beans and guacamole.
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THE RESULTS?
My family loved it. Especially my husband. He kept saying "Great idea Kin. Let's have Nacho's more often." I loved it because it took 5 minutes to make (and I exerted no energy to do it).