Taco/Nacho Bar

Happy New Year to everyone!! I hope everyone had a fun, but safe NYE last night. We just stayed home this year. We had a taco/nacho bar for dinner. Just taco meat, whole wheat flour tortillas, guacamole, sour cream, taco sauce, and homemade tortilla chips... I forgot to get some lettuce for Kevin. I used all-natural, hormone-free, grass-fed lean beef for the tacos, though nothing else was natural or organic in this meal. Nothing too special with just a taco/nacho bar, really, and I normally wouldn't post about it, or a picture of it, but I thought I would this time with the homemade tortilla chips. I didn't actually make these chips, my Aunt Sharon's boyfriend, Reno, made them. Reno and my aunt make them all the time - they're soooo good! So much better than store-bought tortilla chips. They're much crispier than store-bought chips and they have more flavor. I'm going to start making our own homemade tortilla chips as part of my goals to make more things homemade. They're very simple to make, here's just a quick run-down for you.

Homemade Tortilla Chips

corn tortillas (White or yellow, whatever you prefer. Reno uses yellow. And make sure they're the soft ones, not the ones that have already been fried up for tostadas and things)
salt
paprika
oil (one that is good for frying. Reno uses peanut oil, I think. Canola would be good, too.)

Use a pizza wheel to cut the tortillas into chips - usually fourths is a good size. Heat your oil up till its ready to fry (flick a little water at it and see if it sizzles). Drop in the tortillas - do them in batches, not all at once. They'll puff up and start to turn a little brown. Once they look done, scoop them out and onto paper plates covered with paper towels. Sprinkle with a tiny bit a salt and a lot of paprika just after removing them from the oil. Let cool and store in a large paper bag folded down and clipped.

You can also make your own tostadas - just don't cut the tortillas up.

I'm going to try baking these sometime to see how they are when baked... though I don't think they'll be nearly the same.