Macho Nachos

After seeing the Cowboy Nachos on Pioneer Woman's beautiful blog, I knew I had to make some good nachos one evening for dinner. After seeing that some of the jalapenos were ready to be picked and needing to go grocery shopping, I had the ingredients on hand to make nachos without needing too much from the store. I did, however, need to make a run for some tomatoes, cilantro and onion for the Pico de Gallo, which I decided to make from scratch...man, that was a HUGE hit with Paul! Overall, these nachos were a nice *unhealthy* treat after a long day working outside in the sun.

Ingredients:
Tortilla Chips
Ground Beef with Taco Seasoning
Monterey Jack and store-brand "Quesadilla" Cheeses
Fat-Free Refried Beans
Fresh Pico de Gallo
Light Sour Cream and/or Guacamole for finishing
Chopped fresh jalapenos - if you dare

Directions:
On a baking sheet, I layered some tortilla chips, piped the refried beans over them all evenly (I found this to be the easiest way to spread them evenly vs. spooning - I just put the whole can into a gallon freezer bag and snipped the tip off a corner and squeezed), top them all with taco meat and cheese, finally with a layer of the pico. I repeated with another scattered layer on top.

After assembling, I moved my oven rack to the lowest height and popped them in the oven to broil on low, just enough to melt the cheese and get everything warm and a little gooey.

I served this with more pico scattered on top and with light sour cream on the side. Of course, Paul added the jalapenos to his along with some Chula hot sauce. I omitted those items because I'm a wuss.