Thursday, February 14, 2013

A new take on Nacho's & Valentine's Day

A very Happy Valentine's Day to all my viewers!
I hope you've had a wonderful day regardless of if you are partnered or not!

The truth is, I've never really been a fan of Valentine's Day at all. I've always thought of it as just a department store revenue raiser!
Now don't get me wrong - yes my wonderful hubby does spoil me every year even though I see no need for it. 

Just today though, I found out the truth about Valentine's Day!
I think I nearly had a little tear in my eye about how beautiful the story was.....

The origin of Valentine's Day comes from a Christian saint, Valentinus. Soldiers were forbidden to marry and Saint Valentinus performed wedding ceremonies for them. This landed him in prison!!!

With that in mind I decided that instead of costly gifts for my husband - this year (and future years) I intend to make "Valentine's Day" be a day where I do 'acts' that show him I love him and believe in the value of our marriage.

Today that included some cooked treats, a sewn gift, a crafted gift, and decorations! 
Chocolate brownies

I decided that we should have a special meal together. 
As I considered the options I thought that it would be nice to eat off the same plate together!!!! Hahahahaa I don't really know why I thought of that, it just seemed romantic!

So, here's what we had:
Nacho's!

Except a much lower fat version to the traditional nachos.


Here's how:

Replace corn chips with rice crackers!
 
They stay wonderfully crispy in the oven despite my piles of toppings!




Layer rice crackers in the bottom of a lined oven-proof dish.
Sprinkle over chopped vegetables of choice and a few 'squirts' of tomato paste.
In a bowl, mash together a can of refried beans with half a jar of salsa. 
Pour spoonfuls of the refried bean mixture over the rice crackers and veggies. Top with more tomato paste if desired.
Bake at 180C for 20 minutes.


Question of the day:
Do you celebrate Valentine's Day? Why/why not?

8 comments:

  1. When it comes to Valentines Day, I love the simple, thought out gestures. There doesn't need to be any expense involved. My hubbie hand made a card for me. That was enough ;)
    I personally love Valentines as it gives me a great excuse to indulge loved ones with home made chocolatey treats. These past couple of weeks, I've really enjoyed watching friends & family tucking into my raw chocolate cream hearts, brownies and chocolates. Like you, I'm passionate about home made cooking and baking. The shop bought stuff just can't compete!
    I love the look of your Valentines meal! Since stopping the dairy, I haven't eaten any nachos and I miss them! I'm definitely going to have to give your recipe a try. It looks fantastic!
    Here in the UK, we're just heading to dinner time (it's 6.30pm) & I still haven't decided on the main course! Better check out what's in the pantry ;)
    Happy Valentines to you & your loved ones. Hope you've had a great day! :) xx

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    1. Thank you! Hope you had a lovely day also.
      I agree that the little simple things can be just so sweet and precious.
      All of your treats looked so delicious!!! :-)

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  2. I love the idea of using rice crackers in nachos! I think I'd like that version far more than traditional corn chip ones :) Your brownies look beautiful too, and I hope you had a great day.

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    1. Thank you! We had a lovely day. Hope you and Mr B did too.
      The rice crackers are so good - they stay really crunchy :-)

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  3. Those brownies look amazing:))) We do, sort of!! This year I gave my husband a card as I left the house (so he would find it on his keyboard after I left) and we gave each other gifts (nothing expensive) and I made a lovely dinner for the 2 of us. Its just a nice time together. Never thought of using rice crackers - I generally make the topping (in the frypan) and then add it to the corn chips, cover with cheese and melt in the microwave!!

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    1. That is sweet - the little things can be so precious :-)
      Do you find the microwave makes the corn chips go soggy or not?

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    2. No, I only zap the nachos for 2 minutes and the corn chips still hold their shape, but you do need to eat it at once. The other thing I do is put the chips around the edge which reduced the chance of sogginess.

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    3. Very clever! Will have to try it one evening when I'm time short! Thanks for sharing :-)

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