The Super Bowl is almost here! I love having the excuse to whip up a bunch of fun appetizers and if you’re not in the mood for football chicken cakes, I have the most mouth watering snack for you – plantain nachos! These are my absolute favorite nachos of all time and I’ve been waiting for the Super Bowl to share the recipe with you – I just LOVE them! I first had plantain nachos at the Calypso Café in Chicago and was inspired to come up with my own recipe after we moved to Boston when I found myself craving them regularly. You seriously need to make these if you like plantains – just looking at the pictures makes me drool because they are that good!

I don’t get my fryer out often, but it’s completely worth doing so to make homemade plantain chips. They are 100 times better than the ones you can buy at the store and really take these nachos over the top. The fresh plantain chips are topped with a heavenly black bean sauce, cheddar cheese, and pico de gallo. Apolinaras and I usually devour half a batch by ourselves for lunch one day (don’t judge!), and then warm the leftovers up the next day in the oven, but they are best fresh. Oh, and I wrote out the recipe for how much black bean sauce you’ll need for the nachos, but I always actually double it and use the extra sauce to spice up chicken breasts. Enjoy!

Plantain Nachos
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Pico de Gallo:
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/3 cup finely chopped red onion
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon salt

Black Bean Sauce:
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 15.5-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed (about 3/4 cup)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
Juice of half a lime

Plantain Chips:
Vegetable oil for frying
3 green plantains, peeled
1 teaspoon sea salt

Remaining Ingredients for Nacho Assembly:
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

To prepare the pico de gallo, mix the tomatoes, red onion, lime juice, cilantro and salt together in a small bowl. Allow to rest for an hour at room temperature to let the flavors blend.

Prepare the black bean sauce by heating olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and jalapeno and sauté for 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add garlic and sauté an additional minute. Place black beans, vegetable mix, cumin, salt, and lime juice in a food processor; pulse until well blended.

To prepare the plantain chips, heat vegetable oil in a deep-fryer to 375˚F. Cut the plantains in half and slice them lengthwise into long thin strips (no more than 1/8-inch thick). Deep fry the plantain strips, in small batches, until golden brown on both sides, about 3 to 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chips to a paper towel-lined pan to drain. Cool and season with salt.

To assemble the nachos, preheat the oven to 350˚F. Lay 1/2 of the chips on a large baking sheet covered with foil. Top the chips with half the bean sauce, in small spoonfuls, making sure to evenly cover each chip. Sprinkle the bean-covered chips evenly with half the shredded cheeses. Spread the remaining chips on top of the first layer and repeat the process of covering them with the remaining black bean sauce and cheeses. Bake at 350˚F until the cheese melts, about 5 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to sprinkle the pico de gallo evenly over the nachos, making sure to drain out any extra liquid. Serve immediately. Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition: 416 calories, 24.9g fat, 7.0g fiber, 7.9g protein per serving
Cost: $0.83 per serving

Party season is finally here! I’ve been getting into the holiday spirit by having hot chocolate after dinner every night and singing along to Christmas carols in the car (I was in chorus in high school and know all the words!). But tomorrow things will get into full force with our first work holiday party! I’m a huge fan of appetizer-only spreads because you get to try so many yummy treats and these little cranberry pecan brie bites are one of my favorites.

These little guys are very tasty and super fast to throw together.  I just lined mini muffin cups with pie crusts (I usually use the refrigerated Pillsbury ones), stuffed them with chunks of brie, and then topped them off with a cranberry pear spread and chopped pecans.  So easy and they are always a hit!

Cranberry Pecan Brie Bites
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 box (15 oz) refrigerated pie crusts, softened according to package directions
1 large Bartlett pear, peeled, cored, and chopped (8 ounces)
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 ounces brie, cut into 24 3/4×3/4-inch chunks
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions:
Heat oven to 375˚F. Unroll pie crusts and place on a flat work surface. Use a 2 1/2-inch round cutter to cut 12 rounds from each crust. Press each round in the bottom of 24 cups of an ungreased mini-muffin cup pan and press dough up the sides to form cups.

Meanwhile, place chopped pear, cranberries, and salt in a food processor, and process for 1 to 2 minutes or until well mixed.

Place one chunk of brie into each mini-muffin cup and top evenly cranberry mixture. Sprinkle chopped pecans evenly on top. Bake at 375˚F for 15 to 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes and remove from mini-muffin cups. Makes 12 servings.

Nutrition: 231 calories, 14.6g fat, 1.7g fiber, 4.4g protein per serving
Cost: $0.63 per serving

Football season is finally here! Ok, so I admit I actually only know this because I saw a game on while I was browsing through the tv channels on the elliptical at the gym. I’m not actually a huge football fan, and much to my brother’s horror, I’ve never tailgated at a college football game (I went to a small division three college where we sat on the grass to watch football games), but I can be convinced to watch a bit if it means I have the excuse to whip up some football season munchies!

I decided to make these loaded sweet potato skins last night to enjoy with our gin and tonics. I topped the crispy sweet potato skins with a black bean sauce, cheddar cheese, and turkey bacon. These were really tasty and I used the leftover mashed insides of the sweet potatoes for another treat that will be up in my next post!

Loaded Sweet Potato Skins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
4 sweet potatoes, scrubbed
6 pieces turkey bacon, sliced into small pieces
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
Juice of half a lime
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400˚F. Poke holes in the sweet potatoes and bake for an hour at 400˚F or until soft. Allow sweet potatoes to cool slightly and then cut them into quarters. Scoop out some of the insides of the sweet potatoes, leaving a 1/2-inch shell.

Meanwhile, place bacon in a medium skillet over medium high heat and cook 7 minutes or until crispy. Drain bacon on paper towels. To make the black bean sauce, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in the same skillet over medium heat and sauté onion for 5 minutes or until tender. Add garlic and sauté an additional minute. Place onion mixture, black beans, lime juice, cumin, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a food processor and pulse until smooth.

Mix remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 teaspoon salt in a small bowl and use a pastry brush to coat both sides of each potato skin with olive oil. Bake potato skins on a large greased cookie sheet for 10 minutes at 400˚F. Flip potato skins over and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until skins are crispy. Evenly top crispy potato skins with black bean sauce, shredded cheese, and turkey bacon. Bake 2 to 3 minutes at 400˚F or until cheese is melted. Makes 16 loaded sweet potato skins (8 servings).

Nutrition: 258 calories, 12.2g fat, 6.4g fiber, 10.6g protein per serving
Cost: $0.85 per serving

I recently splurged on some of those cute little fresh mozzarella balls marinated in olive oil and herbs. They are so addicting! We enjoyed them when our friends visited last weekend, but I bought a huge tub because I wanted to play with them in a new recipe. I noticed Elly had posted a fantastic recipe for chicken parm burgers and was inspired to use ground chicken to make small chicken parm appetizers!

I decided to use a ground chicken mixture to encase the little mozzarella balls and then coated the balls in panko so they would be crispy on the outside like chicken parm! Then I served them with a marinara dipping sauce. This was my first time using ground chicken, and I was surprised that it was so much moister than ground turkey. I didn’t even end up needing an egg to hold the mixture together. My hubby was a big fan of these, and I’m blaming him for the fact that they disappeared within a day!

Chicken Parm Bites Stuffed with Mozzarella
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped shallots
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ground chicken
1 1/4 cups panko
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
16 small fresh mozzarella balls
1/2 cup of your favorite marinara sauce

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a small skillet and sauté shallots for 5 minutes or until soft. Add garlic and sauté one additional minute.

Lightly mix together shallots, ground chicken, 1/4 cup panko, oregano, basil, and salt in a large bowl. Carefully encase each mozzarella ball evenly with ground chicken mixture and then roll each ball in remaining 1 cup panko until evenly coated. Place balls on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 350˚F or until chicken is cooked through. Place a toothpick in each ball and serve alongside the marinara sauce. Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition: 279 calories, 16.7g fat, 1.7g fiber, 18.9g protein per serving
Cost: $0.90 per serving