Chicken Fajita Nachos

This past week, I felt like I was participating in some sort of Food Network Challenge where I was given a few random ingredients and I had 30 minutes or less to prepare a dish that even my husband would be willing to eat.  Easier said than done! I was making a conscious effort to use up all of the food in my refrigerator, and since I had a pretty busy week at work, I never made it to the grocery store for my usual weekly grocery trip.  I also knew that this week would be very busy, and I didn’t want to go buy more groceries that would inevitably wind up sitting in my refrigerator since I wouldn’t have much time to cook.

By the end of the week, I had a leftover cooked chicken breast, a few small bell peppers, and 3 different half empty bags of tortilla chips that I wanted to use. First I thought of fajitas, with a side of nachos.  Then, I thought – why not combine the two?  Fortunately, I also had some monterey jack and pepper jack cheese in the refrigerator. In the end, they were quite tasty… In fact, I may even make these nachos again sometime when I am not challenged with using random ingredients in my refrigerator!

Ingredients:
(These are just suggestions – use whatever you have on hand. That’s what I did!)

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small red bell pepper, cut into small strips
• 1 small green bell pepper, cut into small strips
• 1/2 sweet onion, sliced
• 1 large cooked chicken breast, shredded (approximately 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Assorted tortilla chips (I had blue corn, chili lime, and plain white corn)
• 6 ounces monterey jack cheese, shredded
• 2 ounces pepper jack cheese, shredded
• 2 plum tomatoes, diced
• Handful cilantro leaves

Directions:

Preheat the broiler.  Prepare a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and spray with cooking spray.

Heat the olive oil and garlic in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the bell peppers and onion, and saute for 5-6 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.  Add the shredded chicken, spices, salt, and pepper.  Saute for an additional 2 minutes.

Spread the tortilla chips in an even layer on the prepared baking sheet.  Top with the bell pepper, onion, and chicken mixture.  Sprinkle with cheese. Broil for 5 minutes, until the cheese is golden and bubbly.

Transfer to a platter, and top with the diced tomatoes and cilantro.