One Recipe: Breakfast, Lunch OR Dinner

I come from a very thrifty family. My grandmother and her family came to this country from war-stricken Germany in 1952. They brought with them the necessity to stretch and use what was available, which is still ingrained in them to this day. It's also a trait I picked up, which is why I have 6 bags of tortilla chip crumbs in my pantry. I just can't bring myself to throw those last few broken chips away, always thinking I'll save them for chicken tortilla soup.

Fast-forward to the evening of the Steelers' first game of 2020, and I'm thinking of what kind of football food I can throw together. Nachos are choice one, but those bags of broken chips call to me..."chilaquiles!" Part of the German-born family I mentioned earlier have now settled in Baja Mexico (see, we're coming full circle here!), which is where I first tasted this delightfully versatile dish.

If you've never heard of Chilaquiles, it's basically corn tortilla chips, layered with red or green salsa, shredded cheese, and ANYTHING else you'd like to throw in. The layered chips, salsa and additional ingredients of choice are then baked. The result is almost like a Mexican, nacho lasagna. It's glorious.

Now, I said this was versatile. I'll list some of my favorite combinations below:

-Salsa roja, bacon or chopped ham, cheddar cheese, green onion, fried egg

-Salsa verde, instant pot salsa verde chicken, queso fresco, pickled onions

-Salsa roja, black beans, fire roasted corn, Monterrey Jack cheese

*add a fried egg to any of these, and you've got breakfast!

*Other additions include sour cream/plain Greek yogurt, cilantro, sliced avocado; have fun with it, and use what you have on hand

I like to layer and cook this in a cast iron skillet, but any high-sided baking dish will do. You also need to add some liquid besides the salsa, so that the chips "sog" up a bit. Trust me, it's a good "sog"! I always keep a carton of vegetable broth in the fridge, so I pour about 1/4 cup over the assembled layers. Bake in a 350 degree oven until the cheese on top is bubbly, and dive in.

In the pictured version, I used salsa roja, cheddar cheese, shredded chicken, and the dredges of some vegan chili I made for Jack. Cilantro, a fried egg and a drizzle of plain Greek yogurt made it complete.

So start saving those broken chips, or splurge and use a fresh bag of chips- these are worth it!