Way Better Veggie Nachos with Cauliflower 'Cheese' Sauce

Way Better Veggie Nachos with Cauliflower 'Cheese' Sauce

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.

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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:

  1. Arrange nachos on a large serving plate.
  2. Over medium heat, combine cannellini and black beans with mushrooms and water or vegetable broth. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
  3. 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:

  1. 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:

  1. 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.
  2. Add seasonings and process again.
  3. 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!

For more great tips and recipes from Chef Mareya, The Fit Foodie, visit www.eatcleaner.com or text EATCLEANER to 22828 to Join The Cleaner Plate Club!

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