Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Baked Tortilla Chips & a Quick Picnic Salad!

First off Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband who is 36 years old today!  This blog post is for him because he loves my bean salads and lives through all of the food testing and tasting!  I love him so much!

Anytime of the week is a good time for chips and salsa or a yummy bean salad!  When we decided to go whole food plant based and remove oil from our home, chips was the hardest thing for me to give up because I like crunchy foods.  I did not know what to do as an alternative that would be crunchy that did not include oil.  So I did some searching and decided to try my hand at baked chips.  I have baked chips before and did not like them because I added ingredients to them.  I like the taste of plain corn tortillas so I figured I would like plain baked chips.  Well I was right, they are delicious!  And add them to my plant based queso sauce and it is a real treat!  Another treat is making a quick bean salad to go with the queso and the baked chips.  And a quick bean salad is great for picnics too!  Bring them both and you have a whole meal!  


The baked chips are very easy to have ready and after I bake them I put them in a ziploc bag or a rubbermaid container to keep them fresh (for up to a week).  Mind you they do not last that long in our house but it is a possibility.  Paul & Lukas like them extra crunchy and then Elsie & I like them just crunchy.


Easy bean salad that can be made and brought to a picnic!  Very yummy and very easy!


Any corn tortillas will work but the thinner ones will bake up faster.  So if the tortillas are thicker they need 30 seconds to 1 minute longer on each side.


I can usually fit 6 tortillas to my cookie sheet at one time (these tortillas were thicker and bigger around, I like the mission thin tortillas the best for baking).  You can score them before baking or bake them whole.  I learned that either way works but when baking whole they need a little extra time (by 30 seconds and sometimes just leaving them on the pan to cool at the end helps them crisp up some more).


Bake them in a preheated 350 degree oven for 7 minutes and then flip them over and bake for another 7 minutes.  If using thicker tortillas they may need 8 minutes and then 7 minutes after flipping them.


They are addictive when they are hot out of the oven.  Lukas & Elsie eat them so fast I have to keep baking for a while to keep up with them!


Now for the Picnic bean salad.  All you need is 4 major ingredients.  It takes 1 can of black beans (or 2 cups of cooked black beans (recipe is in the middle of the blog post) from my black bean soup recipe), 1 can of corn, 1 can of rotel (with lime juice & cilantro) and 1 bunch of cilantro (when chopped up fine it is about 1/2 -3/4 cup of cilantro).


Frozen corn can be used too but this is just so easy and the ingredients can be on hand.


Here is the recipe without the cilantro which can be done, but it is not as flavorful without the fresh cilantro but it is personal preference.

Baked Corn Chips

6 corn tortillas
Baking sheet

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put 6 corn tortillas on a baking sheet, score into chips.
3. Bake for 7 minutes on each side.
4. Serve with queso sauce, bean salad, salsa or anything that goes well with tortilla chips.

Picnic Bean Salad

1 - 15 oz can black beans (or 2 cans cooked black beans)
1 - 15 oz can corn
1 - 10 oz can rotel with lime juice & cilantro
1/2 - 3/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped fine

1. Mix canned ingredients together. Add chopped cilantro.
2. Serve with tortilla chips or over a bed of greens.

Enjoy!





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