Nachos

Nachos can be an excellent source of protein, roughage, vitamins and minerals depending on what your throw on them.

Here's how I recommend them for a quick snack:

Ingredients:
-low fat, low sodium nacho chips, i like the scoop ones
-low fat cheese (jalapeno, or pepper jack or anything you want to use)
-green onion (or red onion)
-cilantro
-home made bean mixture
-salsa of your choice (look for low salt)
-avocado (or mango?)
-lettuce
-olives
-corn



For the bean mixture: Please avoid canned beans and in general canned food as much as you can. You save yourself the consumption of all those preservatives and other long term health risks. Its really easy to do this at home. Soak hard beans (pinto, black, kidney) in water overnight and pressure cook for 10 minutes. In a pot, add some oil, paprika, jalapeno, favorite Mexican hot sauce, cumin, salt, chopped onion and tomato. Cook this mixture for 5-7 minutes and add in the beans, and reduce the water content. I make batches of this and store it in the freezer. Its so convenient when you want to make Mexican food, just thaw a box and you are ready to go.

Arrange desired number of nachos on a platter, fill the scoops with bean mixture, and some cheese. Microwave the platter for 20-30 seconds. Sprinkle all the vegetables and salsa, and you are set to devour mouthfuls of guaranteed happiness!