Recipe of the Week: Baked Tortilla Chips

I love chips and salsa. I really love that salsa is 0 Smart Points (well, most are). There is just something amazing and tasty about the salty, crunchy goodness of warm tortilla chips. You know, like the ones they bring to the table at Mexican restaurants that happen to be like a bazillion points. I love warm tortilla chips.

Heck, I love tortilla chips in general. I just don't like the store bought ones. This is because I usually end up getting white corn bite size ones because they typically are lower in points. Don't get me wrong I really enjoy them, but they just don't hit the spot sometimes. Especially when my boyfriend makes his AMAZING homemade guacamole.

Even just thinking about it is making my mouth salivate. I guess that means I need to pick up the supplies and 'surprise' him with them in order to get me some of that guacamole. I don't even like avocados, but I will eat and entire bowl of his guacamole without even batting an eye. We even fight about who gets to eat the last of it. The Superbowl is in a couple of weeks and maybe I could use that as an excuse to get him to make some. Like I need an excuse, he would make it in a heartbeat.

Anyway, I also hate that when you do find some yellow corn tortilla chips you get only 12 chips for usually about 4 Smart Points. I don't know about you, but for me 12 chips is just not enough. I want like twice that. Man, I guess I just want it all. I was thinking about ways that I could get more chips for the same Smart Points value.

That's when it hit me. Tortilla chips are just cooked tortillas! I know, shocker, but it had not even occurred to me that I could cook tortillas and come out with some chips. I usually always have corn tortillas in my cupboard as well. I keep the Mission Yellow Corn Extra Thin Tortillas at all times (well, most times) because you can have 3 of these tortillas for only 4 Smart Points and they are so yummy. Just make sure you warm them up in a nonstick skillet if you are planning on making tacos with them or they will crumble apart.

I turned my oven on to 350 degrees. While the oven was preheating I took 3 tortillas from the package. I stacked them and used a pizza cutter to cut them into six pieces. Which means I already have 18 tortilla chips for four Smart Points! This is sounding good already. I lightly sprayed a baking sheet with cooking spray and laid the tortilla pieces out  around the sheet with some space in between the pieces. I then lightly sprayed the top with cooking spray as well. Once the oven was preheated, I popped the baking sheet in the oven for six minutes. Take the chips out, flip them over and sprinkle lightly with salt. Place them back in the oven for about another 4-6 minutes, until they turn golden brown. I found 5 minutes was perfect in my oven, but yours might be different. Remove from oven and sprinkle with a little more salt, if desired. Eat warm with salsa or some amazing guacamole. Make more than one serving and store in an airtight container. I prefer to just make what I want to eat at a given particular time because I love to eat them warm. Enjoy!