Exclusive? I think not.

Okay, so I had another photo submission accepted and posted on The Chew's My Bites section. I'm a bit less excited now. Was it Groucho Marx that said, "I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member"? That might be a bit harsh, but obviously getting submissions accepted is less exclusive than I thought.

So while I'm still thrilled that they will post most photos I submit, I now realize they will pretty much post everything I submit. I will just be a little more selective.

Check out the submission here.

The most recent photo was a dessert nacho I made for Nacho night for one of my monthly dinners. It was one of those 'draw a suggestion out of a hat' things and when I first read NACHO I dreaded it. I mean, how many interesting things can you do with Nachos? A lot I discovered.

The evening started off with a Nacho Cheese Fountain and homemade tortilla chips (I don't know that I will ever buy a bag of chips from the store again). Followed by a regular chicken nacho, a greek nacho (gyro meat, feta, cucumbers, tzatziki sauce, pita chips), and a buffalo chicken nacho.

Dessert is where I really struggled until I realized I could use regular pantry items made to look like almost every part of a regular nacho.What are the components of a nacho? Refried beans, ground beef, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole, and chips, right? Now I just had to come up with clever sweet substitutes for those items.

Ground beef - I put some chocolate chips in the food processor and pulsed just enough to knock the sharp corners off.

Cheese - I melted white chocolate and added yellow and orange food coloring until it resembled cheddar cheese. I then poured in into a shallow square dish and put in the fridge to harden. Once hardened, I grated it just like regular cheese.

Lettuce - I found some great flaked coconut at Bob's Red Mill and put in a Ziploc bag with a tiny bit of green food coloring. Once the coloring was fully incorporated, I just repeated the process until it was the perfect shade of iceberg lettuce (this photo is NOT the perfect shade).

Now to assemble. I started out with chocolate pudding that I allowed to fully chill and set, then whipped it a bit to add some air before spreading on the platter as my first layer. Next I sprinkled the chocolate chips, followed by the cheese, then the lettuce. Fresh strawberries made the perfect substitute for tomatoes, whipped cream for sour cream and pistachio pudding filled the spot of the guacamole. 

The finished product

For chips, I cut flour tortillas into 8 pie shaped pieces, brushed both sides with cinnamon/sugar and baked for 10 minutes at 325 degrees F.

Oh yeah, and I had to serve with these mini strawberry margarita jello shots.

Check out the recipe at Bakers Royale