Super Healthy Nachos
Mexican day!
Today I hear a calling from our neighboring Central American country, Mexico! Honoring Costa Rica’s favorite, frijoles I will make a beautiful tomato and black bean salsa. The frijoles are grown, harvested and hand shelled here at the farm, and we have also just started to produce the first tomatoes, small yellow and gorgeous! Though at the height of the rainy season they are understandably not producing to their full potential. Some day soon the tomatoes and the beans will come straight from the farm, literally to the table! To spice things up a bit I have our farm peppers both sweet and hot and there is heaps of Cilantro growing in the herb garden. Salsa just makes sense here! For the citrus in in this farm salsa I will cut fresh lemon grass from the garden, and grab limes off of the lime trees. Peppers also grow here at the farm in plenty, peaking through the greenery, fiery red and orange in color I was psyched to test them out, if a little cautious. Turns out they weren’t too hot, in fact very mild in terms of chili peppers and I found them a delicious additive. They seamed to anticipate my needs, allowing just enough spice to satisfy the spice fiends in the lunch group, though tepid enough to meet the needs of those who shoot for the other team. Nature always knows best.
And now for my healthy twist… scanning a few blogs I found some inspiration to use zucchini instead of tortilla chips, and loved it. An Eggplant plant has yielded its first few babies and there is a squash from the farmers market that keeps looking at me every time I open the fridge. Inspired to always keep things super healthy after my Yoga Teachers Training month, I want to put a super fresh super clean twist on my Mexican lunch.
Eggplant Squash Nachos with blackbean tomato salsa
1 1/2 cups of black beans/frijoles soaked for around 5 hours or more
3 large diced tomatoes
I cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup diced fresh cilantro (or more to your preference)
1/2 cup diced fresh lemon grass
1/2 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 medium sized onion
3-4 cloves garlic
2-3 sweet peppers (we used small slightly hot ones from the farm, but I’m assuming yours are different)
1 diced jalapeno (seeds in the sauce for heavier spice)
1 Tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt and Pepper
1 large zucchini
2 eggplants
spinach
Cheese (we used crumbled fresh goats cheese from the farm)
3 sliced Avocados
First cook frijoles after soaking overnight if possible. Boil in water for around 45 minutes, check to see when soft enough to enjoy.
Dice peppers very small and fry in olive oil for around 5 minutes. Add diced garlic and fresh tomatoes. Let cook for 7 -8 minutes.
Now add tomato sauce and the rest of the ingredients. Mix beans in the mixture and add little amounts of water periodically to keep from becoming too thick.
For ‘chips’
Slice eggplant and zucchini into roughly 1 inch slabs and toss in salt and olive oil. Without the use of an oven we pan fried these, slow cooking them. The use of an oven is preferable to create a richer dryness, though either way is still good! Cool until soft and brown.
I served it on a bed of fresh spinach from the garden, with the ‘chips’ on top, and then smothered with a thick layer of the bean salsa. I laid out sliced avocados and limes on the table, keeping things authentic. We had made beautiful fresh goats cheese yesterday that I sprinkled on top. Who says Mexican food has to be beef burritos? Super healthy goodness.
