I’m home sick today – it seems that both Lucy and I caught the same stomach bug. I didn’t think that was possible, but we did share a spoonful of peanut butter the other night…

Anyways, after our walk this morning I started feeling a little better (and I think she’s on the mend as well) so I headed into the kitchen to make something with the batch of refried black beans I whipped up over the weekend. Usually I make my own polenta, and use canned beans, but today it was the other way around.

Ingredients:

• 1-pound tube of Polenta, sliced into 24 rounds
• 1.5 cups Refried Black Beans (I used THIS recipe but with black beans and additional spices. Or you can just use canned :))
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 1 Tbsp taco seasoning
• 1 tsp Emeril’s Southwest Essence (optional)
• 1 cup fresh salsa
• 2 oz guacamole
• 1 Tbsp cilantro

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Put the Polenta rounds on the parchment paper, in a single layer and sprinkle with Emeril’s SW Essence 

    

   

    

3. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, then remove from oven and flip each piece over.
4. Add 1 Tbsp refried beans to each round, then sprinkle the green onions, taco seasoning, and cilantro over it all. 

    

   

    

5. Bake for another 15 – 20 minutes, then remove from oven.
6. When ready to serve, top each round with 2 tsp salsa and a dab of guacamole.

    

   

    

   

   One serving = 6 “nachos.” This nutritional info is based on canned beans (I haven’t entered the homemade recipe yet) and packaged taco seasoning (ditto):

   Calories: 332, Fat: 11.6g (because of the guacamole I’m sure), Carbs: 46g (9.3g fiber and 2.9g sugar), and Protein: 9.4g