Nachos Supreme!

This is a family favorite that my husband requests fairly frequently. It's a very simple recipe that calls for ingredients I pretty much always have on hand, and it's fast too! A good weeknight "go-to" when the mood for nachos strikes! And you can pretend, like me, that it's not THAT bad for you by giving it a liberal dosing of shredded lettuce and diced tomato - then you can say to yourself you're REALLY just eating salad!! That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. We all really enjoy this version of nachos, the queso just gives it a little "something" extra - a little creaminess to help pull everything together and compliment the salty, crunchy, gooey cheesiness.

I start with ground beef, Tostitos queso, Doritos, tortilla chips, onion, pepper, mushrooms, cheese and taco seasoning!

I dice up the onion and pepper (I get awesome multi-color packs of pepper's at Sam's - I love to the colors the different peppers add to a meal!)

Those go in the non-stick skillet over medium to medium-high heat for about 15 minutes while everything else is prepared!

When the meat mixture is close to being done, I add in a can of mushrooms (since we're mushroom fans, and pepper and onion fans if you haven't guessed by now)! :)

Meanwhile I shredded some cheese (which I usually keep many bags of shredded cheddar in the deep freezer but apparently I have let my supply lapse - oh well, a little manual labor is good for you, especially when you're about to eat a bunch of yummy chips smothered in cheese... mmm....)!!

 I went for about 2 1/2 cups of cheese, but it was fairly packed down - so probably at least 3.

The taco seasoning and water were added to the meat and veggie mixture and that was allowed to simmer while I prepped the bottom layer for the nachos.

 Half of my Doritos and tortilla chips went in and were dotted with about 2 TBS worth of queso.

Next came half of the meat mixture.

Followed by a liberal sprinkling of cheddar!

Tuck those layers in with another helping of yummy chips!

 And repeat with more queso...

 more meat...

 and more cheese!

Cover that up loosely with foil (if you don't want the cheese to stick at all, spray a little non-stick spray on the bottom of the foil, but I usually just leave the foil very loose and it won't stick much at all except for a few pieces, which you can then pull off the foil and pop in your mouth - because you don't want to waste food!) :D

While that was baking, I diced up some lettuce and tomatoes for my nachos - yes, I feel a little better about eating nachos when there are some fresh veggies included, but also I just like the way it tastes with them!

After about 15 minutes in the oven, this ooey gooey crunchiness emerges! Yumm!

 Doctored up with a little lettuce and tomato goodness - add a dollop of sour cream and/or salsa and chow down!

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, any color, diced
1 4-oz can mushrooms, drained (optional)
2 TBS taco seasoning
1/4 cup water
6 oz tortilla chips
4 oz nacho cheese chips
2-3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
4 TBS queso

Optional Toppings:
sour cream
shredded lettuce
diced tomatoes
salsa

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Add diced onion and bell pepper to the ground beef in a skillet over medium high heat, cook about 15 minutes until meat is cooked through and vegetables are tender; drain off grease if necessary. Add canned mushrooms (if using), taco seasoning and water and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes.

When the meat is ready, add a layer of half of the tortilla and half of the nacho cheese chips to the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Dot with approximately 2 TBS of queso cheese sauce. Top this with half the cooked meat and vegetable mixture and then sprinkle on about 1 cup of cheese. Add the last layer of chips, queso, meat and veggie mixture and then top with 1-2 cups of cheese depending on preference.

Cover with foil and bake for 15-20 minutes until cheese is completely melted. If you like your cheese a little bubbly and browned, you can broil for a minute or two at this point (just keep a close eye on it and don't allow it to burn). Serve with preferred toppings and enjoy!