"Dear God Feed Me" Vegan Nachos

You know, when I have a she-beast sized appetite, but I'm short on ambition, I reach for vegan nachos. You can pretty much have this plate of food in your hands in about 5 minutes, with almost no work, and it is very satisfying. It's also pretty easy to keep the ingredients on hand.

All you need is:

• Tortilla chips (Santitas brand was used above; They're vegan too, with only corn, salt, and oil listed in the ingredients)

• Daiya brand vegan shredded "cheese," (see image below)

I have had this specific brand of vegan cheese recommended to me by 3 (count-em #3!) separate vegans within a short span of time, and none of them knew each other. They were totally right. This stuff is really good. I even fed it to my omnivore father, who confirmed that you really couldn't tell it wasn't real cheese. I'd say you could probably tell if you ate it cold, but warm you hardly notice. And it's tasty food with a conscience.

The cheese comes in cheddar and mozzarella styles (shredded only, no blocks that I know of), and I bought mine at my local Whole Foods. Maybe cheddar style is better for nachos, but honestly, when you're hungry, eat whichever one you have on hand and use them interchangeably. And this "cheeze" really does melt and stretch as it proclaims. It lacks a little in the salt department (in terms of imitating the flavor of real cheese), but the tortilla chips used in this recipe will help to compensate for that. If you are really interested in daiya "cheeze" look them up on their website, daiyafoods.com. Extra credit if you make their recipe here for vegan macaroni and cheese. I have not tried that recipe yet, but I am starving and could easily eat that right now...

Anyway...

Instructions:

Lay out however many tortilla chips your heart desires on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Sprinkle the daiya cheese generously over the surface of the chips. Try not to get too much of the cheese on the pan. Broil the nachos carefully between 400 and 500 degrees in your oven until the cheese starts to bubble, and the chips get some toasty brown color. This will take a few minutes, but just watch to make sure the chips don't burn.

You're done, the end. Scoop these carefully onto a plate, and serve with guacamole, salsa, refried beans, etc. Relax. Repeat.

Of COURSE you can add other ingredients to your nachos (peppers, faux taco meat, etc), but this version is a quick and dirty "OMG I am starving I might destroy Tokyo" sort of recipe.

This instructions may seem simple, but I promise this recipe will help to save you from the hunger monster...

Good luck and Godspeed. Tokyo is saved.