Let me start by saying, I have two BIG food aversions…
1) Fluorescent nacho cheese sauce. Did you see me on Food Network’s ‘Cutthroat Kitchen’ when I FREAKED OUT at the thought of having to dip my arm in a huge vat of it, and promptly bid a hefty $5K sum to ensure one of the other chefs would be stuck with it.
2) Messy nachos with a bunch of cheese sauce
Do you see a theme here? Ok, so that said, let me say my kids adore nachos. Figures. So it had to be one of the dishes I rehabbed to make better for you and still delicious.
On the Emmy-nominated show Recipe Rehab, I got to overhaul a family’s ‘loaded’ nacho dish with a whopping 40 grams of fat per serving, and create a lean, MedMex version with cubed chicken breast, black beans, a better for you sour cream made with nonfat Greek yogurt and a killer mango salsa and pita chips instead of the ‘Tostitos’ because, well, the chips just couldn’t stand up to my toppings. The only problem is, a lot of people have gone gluten-free.
So, I’m at it again. I came across Way Better Chips and they’re perfect. These sprouted grain chips are gluten-free, GMO-free and sooo delish…and they pack a powerful nutritional punch. I’m obsessed! I use the Sweeet Potato flavor as the base of my nachos and they’re so killer, I dare you not to eat the bag before they make it to the plate.
Now, for the cheese sauce. I had to figure out a way to put some nutritional content back into the once void ‘cheese like substance’. Seriously, it’s enough to make me want to gag just writing about it. So I blended some cooked cauliflower into a Greek yogurt mixture since it has such a mild flavor and voila – a cheesy sauce without the nasty additives and saturated fat.
Top it with that awesome mango salsa, a mixture of beans and mushrooms, topped with avocado and you have the makings of a WAY BETTER veggie nacho combo.
Knock yourself out and enjoy with the people you love.
WAY BETTER Veggie Nachos with Cauliflower ‘Cheese’ Sauce and
Spicy Tomato Mango Salsa
Vegetarian/Gluten-free
These nachos won’t break the calorie bank – especially because they’re jam packed with good-for you-ingredients and tons of veggies, even the ‘Cheese’ sauce, made without any saturated fat. This is WAY BETTER, and definitely nacho’ average nacho recipe.
Serves 2-4
Ingredients:
1 Bag Way Better Snacks Sweet Potato Chips
½ Cup Canned Small White Beans, drained and rinsed
½ Cup Canned Black Beans, drained and rinsed
¼ Cup Cremini mushrooms, finely chopped
¼ Cup Water or Vegetable Broth
1 Cup Tomato Mango Salsa (see recipe)
1 ½ Cups Cauliflower Cheese Sauce (see recipe)
Directions:
- Arrange nachos on a large serving plate.
- Over medium heat, combine cannellini and black beans with mushrooms and water or vegetable broth. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Spoon over sweet potato chips. Layer with Cauliflower Cheese Sauce and Tomato Mango Salsa. Optional: Bake nachos before adding salsa for about 5 minutes to get the chips warm.
Tropical Tomato Mango Salsa (combine ingredients, refrigerate for at least an hour)
Makes about 1 cup of salsa
Ingredients:
1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted, and diced (if mango is unavailable, swap out 1 small can no sugar added pineapple, drained and diced
1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
2 medium ripe tomatoes, diced
1 jalapeño, minced
3 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
Juice of a fresh lime
½ teaspoon Kosher salt
Directions:
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl and chill for an hour prior to serving. Enjoy on nachos, with fish, chicken or just about any of your favorite dishes.
Nacho’ Average Cauliflower ‘Cheese’ Sauce
Makes about 1 ½ cups of ‘Cheese’ Sauce
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup cauliflower florets, steamed or boiled until very tender
1 Cup Nonfat Greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon Himalayan sea salt
Directions:
- In a food processor, combine cooked cauliflower and yogurt and pulse until smooth. If you have a stick blender, you can skip step 1 and do everything in the saucepan.
- Add seasonings and process again.
- Transfer to a saucepan and heat thoroughly, about 5-6 minutes. Pour over nachos and enjoy!
This is a sponsored post by Way Better Snacks.
ENJOY & REMEMBER TO EAT CLEANER, EVERYDAY!
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