Loaded Veggy-Sausage & Black Bean Nachos

Is there a more excellent stoner food then Nachos?!?!  I think not.  They're crunchy, salty, cheesy, full of flavor and topped with sour cream.  AND you get to eat them with your hands!  Plus, they're quick and easy to make.  My only problem with nachos is that they tend to get soggy and difficult to eat after a few minutes, but I think I've got that bit figured out by heating up the soggier toppings separately and adding them at the end.   

Ingredients
4-5 handfuls of tortilla chips
4 oz Pepper Jack cheese, sliced
1 tbsp garlic, chopped or minced
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup black beans
1/4 cups ground sausage (fake or real, the fake kind is pictured above)
~10 cherry tomatoes sliced in half or 1/2 regular tomato diced
1 banana pepper sliced (the jarred kind is fine)
1 tsp chili powder or taco seasoning
1 tbsp oil or butter
hot sauce
a dallup of sour cream

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F.  Saute onions and garlic in oil or butter in a frying pan over med-high heat.  Add ground sausage and cook for 5-10 mins.  Add black beans and chili powder and stir in until entire mixture is hot.  (I happened to have some chipotle hummus in the fridge and I added about 1 tbsp in with beans).  Keep this mixture warm as you prepare the chips.  Place the chips on aluminum foil on a baking sheet.  Place cheese, tomato and banana peppers on top of the chips. Place in oven and watch closely-- 5 to 8 minutes is all it should take to melt the cheese and slightly brown the edge of the chips.  Transfer the chips on aluminum to a plate and add spoonfuls of the bean and sausage mix.  Finish with a dallup of sour cream in the middle and hot sauce to taste.

Grilled Gouda on Raisin Bread

The first time I ever experienced anything like this was in The Netherlands.  I lived and worked there several years ago, and this sandwich (ungrilled) was in the vending machine at work and was also a common sandwich to find at sandwich carts and shops.  It was just gouda on a raisin roll, but I'd never thought to put cheese on sweet bread.  It's delicious!  I've been craving it for the last several days, so I bought some cinnamon raisin bread and some young gouda and decided to grill it up.  It's a simple combo, but tasty and works cold or grilled.  I was trying to think of a condiment to add and I almost put some tomato chutney on it, but the chutney also contained raisins and I didn't want to go overboard with the raisins.  If I had some mango chutney I think that could've made it something worthy of blowing minds.

Ingredients

2-3 slices Gouda

2 slices of cinnamon raisin bread

1/2 tbsp butter

Directions

Make a sandwich with the cheese and bread.  Spread butter on outside slices of bread.  Grill in a frying pan for 5-10 minutes on medium heat until bread is browned and cheese is melty.  

Mmmmmmm.....cheese.