Game Day Vegan Nachos

Okay, so the whole going vegan thing was supposed to be a lot harder than it has been.  I am not going to lie, when my dear, sweet hubby decides to chow down on some ooey gooey pizza right next to me, I might be a little grumpy.  Okay, a lot grumpy.  But then I make meals like this and I am all like “in your face cheese!”.  well, that might be an exaggeration, but you get what i’m saying!  It’s good, it’s healthy and I am rockin’ it!

Nachos are a go to in our house.  When my hubby and I first started dating he would come over to my house at 10 o’clock at night and the first thing he would do was make a plate of nachos.  Still to this day, if there is a midnight snack to be had in our house 9 times out of 10 it is going to involve tortilla chips!  So finding a way to make our go to snack vegan friendly was at the front of my to do list!  This was my first attempt and it was soooooo good!  You seriously have no idea that it is super healthy and you don’t feel like you are missing out!

If you follow me on instagram (which you should), you saw me post about THE best $6 I have ever spent at goodwill.  I literally use this little guy every single day!  No joke.   It gets as much play as my flat cooking pan!  So the first thing I did was raid my crisper for whatever veggies I had laying around.  This is one of those meals that you can make with whatever you have laying around. However, this time here is what I used.

Vegan Nachos

• Tortilla Chips
• 2 links of the Field Roast Sausage (or whatever “meat” you like), I used the mexican chipotle flavor
• 1/4 head of broccoli
• 1/2 bell pepper (one color or any combination of colors- i used red, orange and green)
• 1/3 onion
• a few baby carrots
•  5 or 6 mushrooms
• 1 can of beans ( i used black beans, but you can use whatever you like)

Put the sausage into the food processor and grind it up until it looks just like ground beef.  Throw that in a pan with a little bit of oil to get a nice flavor going.  While this is happening throw your veggies (one at a time if you are using a little guy like this) and chop them up into about the same size as your ground sausage.  Throw them into the pan and let it all get nice and toasty.

Once your veggies are all hot and bothered in the pan go ahead and make a layer of tortilla chips on a baking sheet.  Sprinkle (or whatever motion that is) your veggie mix onto your chips and add a little bit of your favorite cheese product ( i like the daiya brand as long as you add garlic powder on top) and stick them in the oven under the broiler.  Now you could stick them in the microwave, but since the fake cheese doesn’t really melt that would be pointless.  I really think that the flavor of nachos you cook in the oven is totally unlike any other way of making them.  the chips get all toasty and warm and it just makes everything better.  I promise.  It only takes a couple of minutes so don’t go anywhere or you might burn them and that would be sad.

Top them with your favorite salsa (i alternate between super hot and peach mango) and some fresh avocado and enjoy!!  So tell me, what’s the go to snack in your house?