Getting Simple with the O'Tooles: Zucchini Nachos

In an effort to clean up our diet just a little bit, it's pretty clean, I joined a clean eating challenge a friend hosted on Facebook. After 37 days, I was hooked because the group was full of individuals all with the same goal, get healthy, and so much support it was unreal. I partnered with another woman to create our own clean eating challenge and tonight I made one of the recipes from the challenge groups, zucchini nachos. I was hesitant to try these but post after post people were raving about how good they were. Tonight I took the plunge and I'm so glad I did. Below is the original recipe (one serving):

¼ cup black beans,

2 Tbsp greek yogurt,

1 tbsp shredded cheese,

2 tbsp salsa,

¼ avocado chopped,

¼ lb ground turkey, ground bison, or grass-fed beef sautéed with cumin, sea salt, and paprika

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly mist one baking sheet with olive oil* spray.

Slice one zucchini into 1/8"-1/4" thick rounds.

Arrange evenly on baking sheet and lightly coat the tops with olive oil spray.

Sprinkle on salt and pepper. Bake zucchini rounds until browned and crisp, about 25 to 30 minutes, flipping each over halfway through. Cooking times may vary (mine needed more time). Rotate the baking sheet, if needed.

Cook ground turkey/bison in pan over medium high heat seasoned with cumin, sea salt, and paprika. Set aside.

When the zucchini chips are ready, take them out and allow them to cool. While you wait, heat the beans.

Use a spatula to scoop the zucchini chips up and over to your plate.

Layer on the toppings.

Put nachos back in the oven to melt the cheese.

Enjoy!

*To make the olive oil spray: Mix 1 part olive oil to 5 parts water in a spray bottle, put the top on, and spray. Try to stay away from conventional oil cooking sprays as they can be full of chemicals and other processed ingredients. OR you may use a mister (see picture)

I don't typically stick with recipes and it was the same for this one. I did not use black beans, I used another Mexican bean and I cannot remember the name. It started with a 'p' and they were mild and delicious. We love black beans but they were on the bottom of my canning pile so I chose what was on top (convenience). I omitted the greek yogurt and the meat so I doubled the amount of beans on the nachos. I also added fresh lime juice and jalapeno. I would have added cilantro but we didn't have any in the house. When I built the nachos on the plates, I added a few (about 5-7) organic blue corn chips to help my son and husband transition to these new nachos. I will add grass-fed beef from time to time, but tonight I wanted a vegetarian meal.

I did not slice my zucchini evenly so some browned and some were still green or a little brown. I was worried that the brown ones would taste charred so I took them out and served them up. The brown ones were my favorite, not charred at all and provided a little crunch. I will wait for them all to brown when I make these again. This recipe makes one serving, I cut three zucchini for my family of three (two adults and one preschool child). I'll cut two more zucchini when I make these again.

These nachos were surprisingly delicious; I suggest you give them a try.