Nacho Recipe

Lee’s Vege loaded Beef Nachos

Nachos have always been a winner in our house, and this is my recipe on how to maximise the vegies while keeping the taste. As the kids have grown older, they now make it, and don’t even question the vegies. When we want a treat we have it served as a bowl of nacho’s with chips on the bottom, but if we need to double up the veggie intake we have ‘haystacks’ where lettuce, tomato, cucumber and any other salad veggies are served first and placed on the bottom, followed by the mince, and the chips are a small amount on the top.
All the measures are ‘rough’ measures, and you can swap in and out for your favourite spices/ beans/ vegetables. Use what you have on hand, especially anything looking sad in the bottom of the fridge.

Servings: 8-12 Because we are a big fan of having it for lunch the next day

Ingredients

Beef

  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 1kg beef mince
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
  • 1 large zucchini, peeled and grated
  • 1 tin diced tomato’s
  • 1 400g can brown lentils
  • 1 400g can red kidney beans/ chilli beans or baked beans

Nachos Seasoning

  • 2 tsp each dried cumin powder, paprika
  • 1tsp each cumin seeds, black pepper and salt
  • 2 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 tsp each dried cumin powder, paprika
  • 1tsp chilli powder as hot as you like it

Nachos

  • 350g bag corn chips, choose ones that have the least ingredients and are not filled with artificial flavourings
  • 2 cups grated cheese (whatever you have)

Sides/Garnish (optional)

  • Avocado or guacamole
  • Pickled jalapeno’s
  • Sour cream
  • Lettuce, tomato, salad vegetables to taste

Instructions

  1. Lentils: Pour the can of lentils into a sieve and rinse and drain. If using red kidney beans do the same.
  2. Beef: Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and onion, cook until translucent. Turn up the head, add beef and cook until browned. Gently move beef to the side of the pan and add cumin seeds. Lightly fry off until fragrant – 2 minutes.
  3. Sprinkle Nachos Seasoning into the beef and add tomato paste and stir. If the mix is looking thick, you can add 2 Tbsp of water here, but it will depend on how much fat is in your mince. Add lentils, beans, carrots, zucchini and tomatos and stir. Simmer for a further 5 minutes. Do not overcook the beans they will turn to mush put you off. Taste, and adjust seasoning as needed.
  4. Prep salad vegetables and sides.
  5. Set out chips, mince, sides and condiments and serve as family style-help yourself. Even if the kids choose not to have the salad sides, they still have 4-5 servings of vegetables in the mince. Enjoy!