Top O' The Tortilla To Ye!

Happy (almost) St. Patrick's Day! I think there's a little Irish in my ancestry, but regardless of my roots, everybody is Irish on St. Patrick's Day. Any excuse to drink beer and engage in festive frivolity, right?

That said, I found an excellent idea to pass along to roll out the green carpet for this year's leprechaun-y holiday.

I've often made my own homemade tortilla chips because they're easy, tasty and most often more heathful than fried tortilla chips. Flour tortillas can be easily transformed into chips by cutting them into triangles, spraying with oil, adding your own seasonings and baking in the oven. Bam.

Now, David Dial over at the cool blog SpicedBlog.com has taken this idea to the next level by - wait for it - using cookie cutters to theme your tortilla chip shapes. Brilliant! David uses spinach tortillas to keep his shamrock chips green for St. Pat's. He also has a ton of amazing Irish-inspired recipes posted for the season, so check those out as well.

Cut into shapes, spritz with cooking oil or brush with olive oil, and sprinkle
with salt and pepper.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 5 - 10 minutes, until the chips are crisped (but not browned).

I'll be using this idea for many more holidays as well. Think about bunnies at Easter, stars for your Oscar party, hearts at Valentines, pumpkins in the fall...the possibilities are endless. 

Hope you enjoy this little tip as much as I did.

Slainte!