I was debating what to do for dinner last night and had a craving for the one cheese I can eat — Manchego!  Then, what to do with it?  My creativity got going on my way to the store, yes Trader Joe’s, I came up with two ideas:

-Manchego Nachos, aka Manche-chos

-Manchego Popcorn

When discussing these options with the as-eager-food-lovers at TJ’s, all of decided both had to be tested.

For the ‘chos, I wanted to start out simple – nothing but cheese!  I used the blue corn tortilla chips as they nicely contrast the color of the Manchego and used the microplane grater/zester to finely grate the cheese to adorn the chips with the lactose-free treasure.  Since I was making a small bit, I just threw the chips in the toaster oven — perfect for small bits of nachos!

For the popcorn, I used my microwave popper and when done, tossed the popcorn with more finely grated cheese, S&P.

To complement these, I served them with some prosciutto and grape tomatoes.

Ok, a picture doesn’t do it that much justice.  They were pretty good.  The cheese doesn’t look as pretty as expected, but it was a unique taste.  The prosciutto would taste very nice under the melted cheese!!

For the popcorn, the cheese melted just a bit and it was a nice addition.

I would give this 7.5 out of 10 stars, especially for a first try.  With 2.5 to go until perfection, that definitely means more testing is in order!  Darn.