Grilled Cheese

Today I was making grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner; usually I make up the sandwiches and then I spread butter on each side so they don't stick to the pan. I have never done it any other way. Today however I didn't have any softened butter so I decided to change things up and just butter the skillet before I put the sandwich on it.

Turns out it worked great! Instead of having to put a paper towel on the plate to soak up the grease from the grilled cheese I had a nice toasted, dry, and delicious sandwich to go with my tomato soup.

Nachos

I had the nachos at Taco Bell for the first time a few days ago and I thought how this would be a quick but fun dinner to make at home. So of course a few days later I had to try it and, in my opinion, they turned out better than the original. 

I started out with cooking some hamburger with taco seasoning. I find that it's not worth it to cut corners on hamburger, if you get a really good quality fresh hamburger you can really taste the difference. 

While the meat is cooking, chop up some tomatoes. Try to avoid using a really plump tomato because you'll get too much liquid. Also chop up a few green onions to go on top. 

I love guacamole, and my dad showed me a really easy way to make it at home. All you need is a ripe avocado, some fresh salsa, and sour cream. Peel and pit the avocado and mash it up in a bowl. Drain the liquid out of the salsa you're going to use and mix it in with your avocado, the you can add as much or as little sour cream as you want. 

For the nacho cheese I kept it simple and just melted a little Velveeta in the microwave. I had never made anything with Velveeta before (that didn't come in a box) and let me tell you and can get messy so be prepared. 

Once that's done you're ready to build your nachos. What I like about this set up was that I just put all the ingredients out and let everyone build their own. The standard approach was to start with a layer of chips, then meat and cheese. Then you put a little guacamole and sour cream followed by your veggies and you're all set!