Southwest Veggie Burgers with a side of fresh tomato/corn salad

We have some grocery store samplings showcasing Nacho Mom's on Labor Day weekend...but for those of you hitting the grill...we thought we'd share this...

Veggie Burgers: We know we don't have to spell this one out...you know how to make those, but, trust us, throw some Nacho Mom's Ultimate Vegan Queso on top and all those friends who want to "try a bite" start doing the same.

Now for your side dish:

2 large fresh tomatoes (I like creole and beefsteak) or 2 lbs cherry tomatoes

1 1/2 cups fresh corn or 1 1/2 cups frozen corn, blanched and drained

8 fresh basil leaves

balsamic vinegar

extra virgin olive oil (Nacho Mom's chef tip: The greener the olive oil, the better the quality. However, watch out for sneaky olive oil bottles that are tinted green. Also, always go for extra virgin. You'll notice the difference.)

Directions


Wash tomatoes and  cut into bite sized pieces or slices Tear basil leaves into small pieces. Combine basil, tomato and corn in a bowl

 Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, to taste.

Stir.

Let chill for 1 hour for flavor mix, or serve immediately for freshest presentation.
 

Vegan Texas Cheese Fries or chili cheese fries

There are a few ways to do cheese fries as a vegan. We hear the combo of Nacho Mom's Ultimate Vegan Queso is unlike any other vegan cheese choice when it comes to fry heaven.  It really is smooth like cheese and, with it's hint of heat and spice and all those good green chiles and tomatoes...ahhhhhh. Enough said.

Traditionalists who never want to get the cheesiness on their dainty fingers? Nuke the vegan queso, or heat it up stovetop, and dip your cooked fries in it after transferring it to a lovely dipping bowl.

Livin' on the edge with napkins nearby? Spoon Nacho Mom's vegan queso over your hot fries. Dig in.

Feelin' feisty? Throw some hot veggie chili atop your cooked fries, then dollop on your vegan queso, then add some vegan sour cream. With this one, we do suggest a fork or your loved ones may think you unproper.

We threw some chopped green onions atop but that's for color.  Your call on the garnish.

Nacho Mom's website

What's up, Brocc? Vegan Broccoli and Cheese or Vegan Broccoli, Cheese, & Rice

This can be a side dish or a main dish, whatever you wish.  Fast and easy...steam or cook your broccoli as desired and then mix in some Nacho Mom's Ultimate Vegan Queso.  If you want a casserole, mix in some cooked rice with the broccoli and cheese. Or...simply top cooked broccoli with the warm vegan queso if mixing in isn't your specialty. Oh heck, you can mix it all together and then put it back in the oven too as some do to all cook like a casserole. Again, there is no wrong answer. We've heard the brocc and NMVQ marriage play out so many different ways...

You can get fancy and top it with things like more chopped tomatoes, cilantro, avocado and vegan sour cream....

or just eat it "as is".

We won't judge your culinary skills either way.  It'll still taste good.


Nacho Mom's website

Cheesy Southwestern Black Beans & Rice: Frickin' Amazing...

I can't tell you how often this wows someone at a dinner party, vegan or no... and it's so easy!!

2 cups Instant Whole Grain Brown Rice (the kind that cooks in 10 minutes)
I can black beans, rinsed and drained (no need to heat)
1/2 cup Nacho Mom's Ultimate Vegan Queso (no need to heat)
1/2 an avocado
dollop of vegan sour cream

Follow directions on brown rice box to prepare 4 servings of the brown rice (which uses the 2 cups)
When rice is done, pour vegan queso on top and mix all together.  Spread rinsed black beans over rice and vegan "cheese" mixture. Slice avocado on top and arrange in spiral. Garnish with vegan sour cream. Serve warm

ohhhh it's way better than you think!

Stuffed Zukes, Austin-Style

4 medium-sized zucchini (about 7")
1 T. olive oil
1 1/2 cups minced onion
1 tsp salt
1/2 lb mushrooms, chopped fine
6 medium garlic cloves, minced (if this is too much work, by jars of minced garlic in produce section)
3 T. lemon juice
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 1/2 cups finely minced or ground almonds
Nacho Mom's Ultimate Vegan Queso, to top.*

Cut the zukes lengthwise down the middle. Use a spoon to scoop out the insides, leaving a conoe with a 1/2" shell. Finely mince up what you scraped out, set the zuke canoes aside.

Heat olive oil in med. sized skillet.  Add onion and salt, and saute over medium heat 5-8 minutes or until onion is soft.

Add zuke scrapings and mushrooms, and saute another 8-10 minutes Add the garlic during the last few minutes.

Place rice and almonds in a medium-sized bowl.  Stir in the saute and lemon juice and mix well.

Preaheat oven to 350 degrees.  Fill the zucchini shells with everything but the vegan queso  and bake for 30-40 minutes--til heated through.  Heat up some queso...the amount is up to you, but we personally like to dollop on a healthy helping atop each zuke.

*You can also mix some vegan queso in prior to cooking. I haven't personally done this yet but I've been told some prefer it this way from a restaurant that used our queso. No wrong answer here about when to put it in or how much to use, it's whatever you prefer.

Serve hot

Southwest Tofu Scramble

This one could turn a tofu hater around
But I ain't gon' take no credit for the recipe, here. Well, at least not most of it.  This is actually a twist that starts with a breakfast I always have in the freezer...it's a vegan breakfast by Amy's called a "scramble" and it's amazing on it's own. But we made it better and heartier.

While you are heating up your meal, also heat up a bowl of our vegan queso.  When the scramble is ready, mix in a bit of Nacho Mom's Ultimate Vegan Queso with your scramble.  Then dollop a hearty helping atop your hashbrowns too.

We just taught Amy's how to go Tex-Mex.  She'll never look back. This is another iPhone picture so, while it doesn't say much about the phone's artistic abilities, you still get a peek before I have to go find the camera:


Nacho Mom's Ultimate Vegan Queso website

Who cares that it's hot outside? It's shady indoors: Vegan Vegetable Stew

2 T. olive oil
3 c minced onion
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 medium (7" or so) eggplant, diced
1 tsp. salt (or more, to taste)
fresh ground black pepper, to taste
2 medium stalks celery, chopped
1 stalk broccoli, chopped small (God bless the cuisinart for all vegans, y'all!)
2-3 med. carrots, sliced or diced
1/2 cup dry red wine (optional) It's never optional for us...just sayin'
2 small (6") zucchini, diced
3 T. (half a small can) tomato paste
1/2 lb mushrooms, coarsely chopped...or, if you are OCD, feel free to chop them perfectly. We won't judge
3 T. molasses
2 tsp dill
Nacho Mom's Ultimate Vegan Queso

Heat oil in a Dutch Oven (that's just a fancy name for a big ol' pot).  Add onion, garlic, potatoes, eggplant, salt, and pepper.  Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring often until the potatoes are tender.  Add small amounts of water, as needed, to prevent sticking.

Add celery, broccoli, and carrots, along with the optional red wine. Continue to cook over medium heat, covered but occasionally stirring, until all the veggies begin to be tender (8-10 min)

Add remaining ingredients (except the queso) and stir.  Cover and simmer gently about 15 min more, stirring every now and again while sipping the rest of that wine. Taste to correct seasonings.

Dollop some Vegan Queso on top. Some warm the queso first. Some don't. It's a winner either way. Don't be afraid to stir it in and add more on top either. We are partial to uber queso indulgence, naturally.

Vegan Ultimate Tacos with Nacho Mom's Ultimate Vegan Queso, of course

This is another super fast, super easy fix that is sooo good.

Heat your taco shells in the oven til crisp

Spoon in some warm refried beans (make sure they are vegetarian. Some refried beans contain lard) Yes, you can use veggie crumbles or a mixture of veggie crumbles and refried beans...I just love the refried beans personally.

Top with Nacho Mom's Ultimate Vegan Queso, heated

Then lettuce (or cabbage. Honestly, either one works. Use what you have.) and your favorite salsa

Then, optional but so good: vegan sour cream.

These are surprisingly low in calories too. Amazing what happens to food when you omit the fat, the meat, and the dairy!

Leftover Veggie Chili? Try this Texas Stew

We tend to have veggie chili often in our house, what with Vegan chili-queso cheese dogs, Frito pie, chili,  rice and vegan queso, etc...

So here's a 2 minute meal if you do to.

Mix veggie chili with desired amount of stewed tomatoes or chopped fire roasted tomatoes, or canned whole tomatoes that you chop a bit....stir and heat.

Top with Nacho Mom's Ultimate Vegan Queso.

It's a good healthy protein-packed fast dinner.  Chopped green peppers or green onions or vegan sour cream, optional.

Football games revisited: Frito Pie with Vegan Queso

While some lovely restaurants are helping patrons to rekindle the feelings of highschool football games and low-budget comfort foods of yesteryear--but are doing so served on china plates, we took it back to the corn chip bag of the past, but then warped it into the future with healthier and more compassionate vegan queso on top, replacing the saturated fat and cholesterol etc of yesterday's cheddar.

It's still as good. Neh, it's way better, actually.

This is another vegan converter, y'all...we can get 'em to love tofu later. The veggie chili adds good protein, the queso has tons of vitamins with the nutritional yeast, and tomatoes...now I just need to find some healthy corn chips and I'm good.

Split open a Frito bag, sideways.
On top of Fritos, spread  ladel of hot veggie chili
ladel Nacho Mom's Ultimate Vegan Queso on top
optional: jalapenos and chopped onions on top of that

It's ready in a few minutes. I'll eat a salad tomorrow to balance out the corn chip intake.

Texas Taco Vegan Queso Burger (A Manly Vegan Converter)

While we do prefer the healthy burger on wheat bread, we also know how to convert most anyone to veganism. And, actually, because Nacho Mom's Ultimate Vegan Queso is only 10 calories a serving and you can buy or make fat free refried beans, this looks far deadlier than you'd guess!

To make:
Grill a vegan veggie burger and warm up some refried beans.
Top your bottom bun with a bit of our vegan queso, warmed
Lay grilled veggie burger on top
Layer warm refried beans atop
Add more warm queso on refried beans
Sprinkle some crumbled tortilla chips over the 2nd layer of vegan cheese
add the top bun.

Some like a bit of salsa as well, but that call is entirely yours.

Nacho Mom's Website

We got this email: "We're not vegan, but I'm not sure you realize this stuff makes the best grilled cheese. Period"

That's a portion of a lovely email we recently received from Mary L. in FL. at 6am this morning. And she was right, none of us at Fat Goblin, LLC (the parent company to Nacho Mom's Ultimate Vegan Queso) had tried that food idea yet.

So I, head Goblin, Alana made one for BREAKFAST this morning. Hey, Nacho Mom's Ultimate Vegan Queso isn't just for hashbrowns in the morn', y'all!

We are sending Mary a gift pack today as a personal thank you...not for the shout out to us, but for pointing out something that just changed grilled cheese forever.

The real chopped tomatoes and Southwest flavors make, truly, the best and most wicked good grilled cheese we ever dreamt. And while we know we are biased. Try it. No joke.

And we hadn't even listed this before on our "ways to use Nacho Mom's Ultimate Vegan Queso".  For shame! melty cccchhhhhhheeeeeeesy good! (but no guilt!)

Incidentally, this was taken with my iphone because I was kinda wanting to dig into so...ignore picture quality. You get the idea.