Andrew has pointed out that I like to say “It’s not as if we’re eating beans and rice every night for dinner” as a comment on our financial situation. As if I don’t want to be eating beans and rice for dinner every night. Oh, but I do. I love love love refritos and properly prepared brown rice. I don’t care if they’re on flour or corn tortillas, chips or tostadas. With sour cream, cheese and avocado they’re unbelievable, but without, they’re pretty delicious as well. Lately, I’ve been trying to cut back on fattier dairy products by not buying cheese and sour cream. Of course, I did just buy a pint of half and half yesterday for my coffee and I have a quart of heavy whipping cream ready for round two of a pasta primavera dinner tonight, but you could say that those things are allowed now that I’m not eating cheese or sour cream (or avocado!) on my beans and rice.

I’m calling last night’s dinner “Healthy Nachos” because aside from the chips, everything was low fat and good for the body. Also, it only took me 20 minutes from to prepare everything. Here’s the recipe:
“Healthy” Nachos
A note about the photos: They’re a little blurry. See, my kitchen is a little bit dark and I have a burned out bulb out that I Andrew needs to fix.

Chop about a quarter cup of onion and smash one clove of garlic. Put them in a blender.

Add a large can of pinto beans or black beans with the liquid.

Puree everything together until blended and smooth. Then, heat some oil (about 1 Tbsp) in a large skillet over medium heat and pour in the beans.

Add some cumin (1/2 - 1 Tsp) and some salt, then stir frequently, pushing the beans around to prevent them from sticking to the pan. It is very important that you use a spatula made for withstanding high heat. I learned this tip the hard way when I ended up with melted plastic in my beans. I now have a Pyrex silicone spatula that works fabulously.

Chop up some lettuce . . .

. . . and some cilantro. Now, at this point if you’re thinking to yourself, “Hmm. House Spouse looks like she might have some knife skills,” well then you would be correct. I do have knife skills. I took the Knife Skills class at the Chopping Block. I also have a SWEET knife.

Slice some green onion . . .

. . . and dice a tomato.

Get some tasty salsa and some low-fat plain yogurt out of your fridge (I know this seems weird, but it’s good. I promise. It’s not as good as sour cream, but a decent cool and creamy substitute). That mango peach salsa was left over from the previous nights dinner: black bean tostadas. See, I wasn’t kidding around about wanting to consume beans every night.

Get a bag of your favorite brand of tortilla chips. These here are commonly known as “the green bag chips” here in Chicago. Their scientific name is El Ranchero Tortilla Chips with Salt.

On a plate, layer the chips, then the beans, lettuce, tomato and finally the yogurt and salsa, and voila: Healthy Nachos.

You can, of course, go crazy and add any toppings you’d like. Sometimes I toss a jalepeño into the blender for a little heat. You can also put 1/4 cup of green pepper. My philosophy is to go a little nuts using whatever I have in the fridge or cupboards. That way, I’m better about using up my ingredients before they spoil.

Also, if you liked how I formatted this post, you should totally read this lady’s blog. I think she might be a Republican (unfortunately), but she’s still a riot anyway. And my oh my, she can cook. I doubt you’ll find recipes for “Healthy” Nachos over there though.

So someone spent a little bit of time drooling over this crazy awesome blog. And that same someone got inspired to cook “chick food” for dinner. And that someone’s spouse felt all kinds of inspiration to eat the chick food despite that he’s not a chick.

I never make pasta. I love it too much. It’s hardcore danger zone for me. And last night was no exception. I ate waaaayyyy too much Pasta Primavera. I didn’t skimp on the cream, just like the Pioneer Woman advises. It was so delicious.

I’m hoping to reverse some of the damage with a tofu scramble tonight.

I got this recipe from Cooking Light Magazine’s July 2006 issue. I was reading aloud all the recipes to Andrew and when I said, “Chicken and Corn Chowder” he actually expressed interest. So I made it. And, as usual, altered it according to what I had around the house.

Originally, we were going to have it for dinner tomorrow night, and poblano and pintos tacos tonight, but it’s so delicious (and so easy to heat up…I never got around to making the pintos refritos today), that we’re having it tonight.

Chicken and Corn Chowder

1 T butter
6 green onions (I didn’t have any, so I used about 1/4 c. of diced white onion)
2 T all-purpose flour
2 c chopped cooked chicken breast (I cheated and bought some already marinated and grilled from Trader Joes. One less thing to cook in the heat.)
1/4 t salt
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
2 (10 oz) packs of frozen corn kernels, thawed and divided (I only had one 16 oz pack)
1 (14 oz) can fat-free, less sodium chicken broth (I only had boullion, which I prepared accordingly)
2 c fat-free milk
1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese

1. Melt the butter in a soup pot over med-high heat. Dice your onions (removing and saving the green tops if you’re using the green onions), add them to the pan and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the flour, whisking constantly for about 1 minute. Stir in the salt, pepper, chicken, half of the corn and broth. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
2. While the soup simmers, add the remaining corn and milk to a blender and process until smooth. Add it slowly to the mixture on the stove and simmer for another 2 minutes, or until thoroughly heated.
I added the cheddar cheese then, to make the broth a little more flavorful. You can save it to sprinkle in each individual bowl. If you have green onion tops, slice those up and sprinkle on top as well.

I can’t help but think that this would be good with corn tortilla chips, diced avocado or chopped cilantro.

It makes 4, 2-cup servings.