Office Eats: California Style Nachos

July 20, 2012
1:42 pm

Posted by DMA Solutions Team

While the older more seasoned members of our team jetted off to Monterey, CA to Bridge the Gap at this year’s PMA’s Foodservice Conference & Expo , we 20-somethings had free reign in the office kitchen! Yippee! So, in honor of our team’s trip out west, (and because we’ll make any excuse to eat artichokes and avocados), we took a guilty southwest obsession and infused it with a little bit of Northern California. Check out our California Style Nacho recipe (and, no, there wasn’t even a trace of Ramen noodles)!

The Ingredients

6 Nature Sweet Cherry Tomatoes, quartered
Handful of Dole Baby Spinach, chopped
1 small bunch of green onions, diced
1 cup alfalfa sprouts
8 oz Camembert Cheese
2 Frontera Jalapeno Peppers, diced
1 Brooks Tropicals SlimCado, mashed
6 artichoke hearts*
Daisy Light Sour Cream

*Confession: We used canned artichoke hearts for the sake of time (it happens, right?), but had we really been planning, one of us would have steamed a FRESH artichoke last night and brought it to the office today.

The Equipment:

Breville Compact Smart Oven
1 or more paring knives
A few plastic knives or spoons

The Process & Prep Time:

Arrange chips on oven baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 3 – 5 minutes.
While chips are warming, melt cheese in microwave. Add a splash of water and/or milk if too thick. Stir in diced jalapenos.
Spread chips across large platter. Drizzle jalapeno cheese over chips. Top with alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes, spinach, green onions and artichokes.
Serve with mashed avocado and sour cream.

Mack and I debated for a good 30 seconds on where to rate this plate of gloriousness on the Health-O –Meter. We agreed that sour cream and cheese add plenty of not-so-healthy calories, but the tortilla chips almost caused us to throw down. What do you think? Are tortilla chips a smart or not so smart snack option?