Nachos are probably my favorite snack… hands down. Why wouldn’t they be? They are the perfect vehicle for melted cheese and what is better than cheese? The answer for those of us who are not intolerant of dairy is… nothing!
Speaking of dairy intolerance, I will give a quick disclaimer on the subject, as it is a controversial one in the realm of paleo eaters. I eat dairy, others don’t. The reason for this is the logic that our primal ancestors would most likely not have had the luxury of walking up to a domesticated cow or goat and milking it. Cow’s milk was for baby cows and human milk was for baby humans. Therefore, if our primal ancestors did not subsist on the milk of other animals we would have had no way to develop the capability to digest it. That being said, not all ancestry is created equal. Studies have been done that indicate a strong correlation between region of ancestry and the ability to digest milk. Populations in Northern Europe, specifically, began raising and herding cows early in the course of history and as a result developed the gene needed to digest cow lactose. However, Asian populations, Southern European populations, and a variety of other groups do not share this history and thus it is much more likely that they do not share the milk digesting gene either.
I am about as Northern European as they come, however even I cut out dairy for about 4 months at the beginning of my primal journey and slowly introduced it back into my diet to determine its effect on my digestion. Thankfully, there was none. If you have not given this process of elimination a try, I recommend you do. If you can’t eat dairy there are plenty of other wonderful substitutes around the cooking world, from coconut milk, to almond milk, to coconut oil and the like. If you can digest dairy I still highly recommend limiting your consumption and sticking to the dairy of grass fed, grain free, cows and goats.
Now that we have that out of the way, I wanted to share my version of paleo nachos with you all. Salty sweet potato chips make a wonderful corn chip substitute and when paired with some local cheese and local salsa, well, it turns even a midnight snack into a culinary treat!
Ingredients:
Salsa
Cheese
Directions:
Shred and melt cheese over chips in microwave. Top with salsa and Eat… That’s as easy as it gets!
