Make Your Own Nacho Night

I love nachos for the same reason I love a good salad: each bite is different but every bite is piled high with flavor, texture and taste.

Make Your Own Nacho night is fun for everyone - and it's also a great way to let children explore new foods with a fun and familiar base. And, it's a great way to empower children, as they get to decide how to make their own dinner.

We used corn tortilla chips, refried beans and cheddar cheese for the base. Our toppings included: diced yellow pepper, guacamole, plain yogurt, sliced black olives, salsa and corn. (In our muffin tray, I repeated each topping twice so each child had their own separate set).

Ingredients

Nacho Base

Tortilla chips (I made made my own by baking corn tortillas; store-bought are fine too)

Beans (I made refried beans but any bean would work)

Grated cheddar cheese

Toppings:

Diced bell pepper

Sour cream (or yogurt)

Corn (we used frozen)

Guacamole (or diced avocado)

Salsa

Sliced black olives

Shredded lettuce

Diced tomato

Jalapenos

The options here are endless!

Let everyone make their own base by layering on chips, beans and cheese. Put it in the oven until the cheese melts (set your oven to broil if your ingredients are hot to begin with and watch closely, or bake at 350 until everything melts). In the meantime, take a cupcake pan and fill it up with a mix of toppings. We used one pan and each child had their own six muffin cups; you could also use 12 different toppings and just put out a few spoons. Once the nacho base is ready, put each plate on the table and let everyone design their own nacho dish. And dig in!

Another perk: with all the toppings in the muffin tray, there are less dishes to clean up!

Using a pizza cutter to slice corn tortillas so we could bake them