Family Dinners Past: Nacho Night & Pizza/Soup

Because I've been busy the past few weeks and only now really given the chance to catch up on all of my posts and organize photos, I thought it would be a good time to bring up some photos of family dinners past.

A couple weeks ago I was watching tv on a saturday night and someone had the gall to say the word "nachos"! Just like my 3 year old nephew, J, at the slight mention of the words "cookie" or "treat", my ears perked up, my pupils widened and I knew that I simply must have nachos--and soon! It was just my luck that our pantry was running low on Mexican meal ingredients, so I made a quick run to the store and came up with this delicious treat:

I scoured the market for the lowest calorie tortilla chips available (by weight, of course) and eventually chose a bag of the scoop variety. I added some Amy's Refried Black Beans, my absolute favorite, sliced black olives, a blend of shredded "Mexican" cheeses from Shop Rite, a dash of chipotle seasoning, some jarred, spicy tortilla sauce and last, but definitely not least a huge pour of chilie powder (those little black and red speckles you see in the photos add so much delicious flavor without overwhelming the palate with too much spice--highly recommended!). I microwaved the dish for 1.5 minutes. My craving was satiated and I was a very happy camper.

One night that same week, I didn't know what to serve for dinner and hadn't really thought much about it until 6 or 7pm when Doni came home from work. We had some leftover apple/potato soup from the previous shabbat dinner, though the flavor was getting a little too mild. So I chopped up some honeycrisp apples for sweetness, tart and texture and put a handful in my and D's soup bowls. I topped off the soup with some veggie bacon bits and chopped chives and suddenly the too-mild soup was teeming with flavor:


Because few things make me happier than pizza, I grabbed some small pitas from the fridge, turned them into a slight garlic bread with olive oil, garlic and spices, added cheddar cheese (what we happened to have in the fridge) and some veggie pepperoni. I baked the pizzas at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes--just wait until the cheese is bubbly. I really thought that the pitas would dry out, but I was pleasantly surprised. This really easy recipe might be one of my favorite pizzas out there. Who knew?

Tip: The key to working with veggie pepperoni is brushing the tops of each one with a touch of olive oil, or spraying them with nonstick cooking spray. If you skip this key step, the pepperoni dries out a bit and doesn't have it's full potential of flavor.

Two very easy & delicious (semi?) homemade dinners that would make our new governor's girlfriend very proud. Bon appetit!