Thursday, December 11, 2008

Family Favorites

I don't have any fancy recipes or pictures of cookbook experiments to share with you today. Instead, I want to talk about one of the simplest, most sentimental snacks I can think of — My Daddy's Favorite Microwave Nachos:

Yep, it's pretty simple — just blue corn tortilla chips, Follow Your Heart vegan cheddar, and Trappy's pickled jalapenos from a jar.

But when I was little kid, this was one my dad's favorite quick late-night snacks. He'd take a handful of plain ol' tortilla chips, toss some shredded cheese and jalapenos on top, and nuke it for a few seconds in the microwave. Instant nachos. And if I saw him in the process of making himself a plate, I'd always request one too, sans the peppers.

I'm sure he still makes this every once in awhile. But it had been years since I'd had this quick snack. Then one day, a few months ago, the memory of daddy's quick nachos came to mind, and I felt compelled to try it with vegan cheese. Turns out FYH melts in less than 20 seconds in the microwave.

Since that day, I've been bringing this one out every once in awhile. Today, I ate the nachos for lunch along with baba ganoush on pita bread. And as expected, a wave of childhood memories washed over me. It's weird how certain foods can do that. How about ya'll? What are the most memorable foods of your childhood?

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awwww. Nachos always remind me of college when my roommates and I would go to the coop late at night and make baking sheets of nachos in the giant ovens with chips and cheddar cheese and whatever else was lying around. Best late night drunk food ever.

Alison said...

graham crackers. Just plain graham crackers, I think I was an addict as a child :)

VeganCowGirl said...

All I can say is: Your dad is one smart man!

Anonymous said...

My brother used to make nachos like that ALL THE TIME! He had a super fast metabolism so after he was done with his lunch of pasta and a whole pizza...he would make nachos. I would try to copy him of course but was left with no cheese =(
I think my most memorable food from childhood would be ramen noodles. Chicken Flavah! That was the first thing I learned to cook and I ate it almost everyday.

Marisa L. S. said...

Ooh I love microwave nachos. I also do the FYH cheddar but also salsa, diced onion and olives if I have them on hand and tomatoes!

When I was a kid, my mom would make us wagon wheel pasta with ketchup! Then after that, it was wagon wheel pasta with parmesan cheese and butter! Gourmet it was not, but yummy!

Vegan In The VI said...

Great pic. I can taste it with my eyes.

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Fabulous!!

**Most memorable meals from childhood = my mom's FABULOUS stuffed cabbages, stuffed tomatoes, stuffed zucchini, stuffed peppers... whatever vegetable was plentiful in our garden to stuff, haha :-)

Anonymous said...

mmmm, nachos.

My favorite memory is my dad's grilled cheese sandwiches. Have never seen any other that compared, and not so sure that vegan cheese would quite live up to those expectations (especially the kind I can get over here in the NL).

Oh, and plain saltine crackers, which they gave us in school during snack time. We would scrape the edges together so that the perforations disappeared into piles of salty dust on the desk.

jessy said...

i love foods that bring back childhood memories. they're my favorite! and thanks for sharing one of your childhood-family favorites, Bianca! so simple & soooooo tasty! i love it!

for me, my mom's tuna casserole brings me back. i am so glad i veganized it. i puffy heart it the mostest! well, that and chicken a-la king - which i am going to veganize soon. yay!

Katy said...

My dad and I would always make graham crackers and milk. Step 1: put crackers in a bowl. Step 2: pour milk on top. Step 3: eat. I always loved making that with him! I bet he still eats it! I should ask him...

J said...

That is so cool that you veganized a simple family favorite. I love me some nachos too, but I would NEVER ask for them sans peppers - blasphemy! :-)

For me, my childhood comfort food was bean burritos, already vegetarian, easy enough to veganize - still one of my very favorite foods (with lots of HOT local salsa on them).

thedalyn said...

Something I had just a few nights ago: graham cracker cereal. Break the graham crackers into bite sized pieces and pour (soy) milk over them. Divine and fast. Josh thins it's gross. They, admittedly, do get soggy very fast, but that's the charm. Yummy.

Agnesss =) said...

Heyy Bianca!!!
I'm BACK AGAIN =D!!

I just looked at what you ate on your RAW FOOD DAY...and I'm sooo happy you liked the OATMEAL concotion...I'm enjoying it almost every day !! In every single way.. there are so many ways to make it different every day hah =D!! Oh but I didn't know there's a recipe like this..I don't have RAW FOOD BOOKS...=((

Well...my favourite childhood food... I think I loved all kind of PUDDINGS and I also loved CREAM CHEESE..and Ricotta cheese.. but well..now I'm enjoying MUCH MORE(!!) my RAW VEGAN CREAM CHEEZE creations..=)) Yum!!

And what else...? I know!! My Grannie always in the summer made a YUMMY FRUIT SOUP !! =D It was made of strawberries,cherries,apples,pears,plums sometimes also dried apricots,prunes...it was really yummy!! I'll VEGANIZE and RAW-ifize it some day for sure !! =))

Have a great time!!=D

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

Oh man, I used to be ALL about the microwave nachos. I hated when some of the chips would get soggy.

Unknown said...

My kids love nachos with black olives and refried beans on them. Yummy.

My favorite family favorite would have to be my aunts deviled eggs. I know that I can't veganize those, but when I think of our family meals, they are one of the first things that I think of.

Salt said...

Our dads must have come out of the same school of fatherhood, because my dad did this, too! Except, I think he used a 1:1 ratio of jalapenos to cheese!

Liz Ranger (Bubble Tea for Dinner) said...

aw, nachos like that do bring me back! the thing I always remember is fairy bread, though - cheap white bread with peanut butter and loads of sprinkles on top, it's all crunchy and peanutty and absolutely ridiculous nutritionally. :D

Lisa (Show Me Vegan) said...

what a nice post! I remember coming home from school and eating a big bowl of "spaghetti sauce" that was meant for supper. It wasn't vegan, so now I prefer a version of marinara with mushrooms.

Anonymous said...

Oh micro nachos! This was my emergency 2 am just got home from dancing all night and have nothing to eat snack. Didn't do it often, but loved it. Can't find vegan cheese here, but if I could, I would be all over those chips!

Avery Yale Kamila said...

I love vegan nachos! And I particularly love pickled jalepeno peppers. What a great treat!

Green Eyes, Green Heart said...

YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM.

River (Wing-It Vegan) said...

Awww, that's sweet! And they look awesomely gooey!

My childhood food was rather torturous, but I'm making up for it now! :)

Anonymous said...

Tomatoes, butterbeans, turnip greens, and green beans from my grandmother's farm (in an area now called Cordova).YUM. Never had any from anywhere that tasted better and never will. Close second: my mom's no-meat spaghetti sauce (super spicy and delicious). Third: in the winter my mom would make a quick snack or even occasionally dinner of cinnamon toast and cheese and crackers, all put in the oven on broil until you start to see the cheese melting. So good.