Redemption Through Revamp

     At this point I feel a bit trapped, I have a bowl of leftover tacos, a near full package of corn tortillas and  an unhappy 7 year old. I don't think any amount of bargain making could get her to eat those tortillas again. But I refuse to throw them out either, especially after reading this post. Wasting food has been a small problem in this household as well. Eating what I buy is a great goal to work towards. With these thoughts swirling in my mind I head to work Tuesday morning.

     I am lucky in a way that I work in the food industry at this point, I can easily get ideas from everyone around me. We discuss using the tortillas as 'noodles' in a taco lasagna dish. Cutting strips and frying them up to make a crunchy addition to a salad. Tortilla bowls. Tortilla soup. You name it, it was suggested.

     But, Tuesdays are a bit more crunched for time. I have to help my daughter get her homework done, get dinner on the table, and get out the door for Girl Scouts. I needed a low fuss, healthy, kid friendly solution. I finally settled on baked corn chips. No extra fat and it solves the texture issue she and I were having. And I've always been more of a crunchy taco/taco in a bowl person anyway.

     Turns out baked corn chips are really simple. Cut your tortillas into desired size, I like eighths personally. Lay them out on a couple sheet pans like so:

The spacing is the important part no chips on top of each other!

     And season as you wish. I chose two salt grinders that I got for Christmas from my brother.

A little spice for my tray, just salt and pepper for hers

     Bake in the oven at 400 until the edges are just turning brown , nine minutes in my oven, and tada!

Chips!

     I pull these out of the oven just as her bus drops her off at the door. "Mmmm... what's that Mom? It smells good." Small victory already!

     "Oh, I made chips out of those tortillas you didn't like last night. I don't think you want to try these." That last sentence had her jumping up and down begging to try one. After a small show of denying her, I 'cave' and let her try "just one". As she bites into her first chip I hear a little yum noise and the quickly the rest of the chip is gone. I finally win a round!

     Dinner is a few hours later and I serve up a small scoop of last night's tacos with 12 chips, equivalent to  one a half tortilla shells, and a sprinkle of cheese. This dinner was such a hit that she didn't even ask for dessert. And it looks so good you would hardly believe it was vegetarian.

Now that's what I'm talking about!

     I did only get one thumb up, but she also said it's a meal she would happily eat again. I would too, semi-homemade chips and all. As an added note, this was a very filling dinner, so if you decided to make this yourself maybe scoop a bit less then you normally would. You can always get seconds after all.