Nachos and Corn Chowder

I was flipping through Vegan with a Vengeance a few nights ago and the corn chowder recipe caught my eye. We won't have good fresh corn here for at least another 3 months, but a bag of organic frozen corn worked just fine.

Since I wanted to do something more than just the chowder alone for dinner, and since we also had an avacado that was getting ripe, I decided to make nachos. I haven't made something like this for a very long time, but it came out really good. Often we'll just put everything in a bowl and serve it with chips on the side but tonight was a little different. I finely diced a small onion and sauteed it in peanut oil with some salt & pepper for a few minutes, then added a minced clove of garlic and a few pinches of cumin and chili powder. Then I added a can of black beans (drained), a little more oil, and a splash of water and mashed everything together. I spread some blue corn chips on a sheet pan and spooned the black bean mixture randomly on top. I added some salsa from a jar, plus some soy cheese and baked it at 325° for about 10 minutes. (We don't often buy soy cheese, but before our trip last week we got some sandwich slices for the convenience of making sandwiches for the road. There were a couple of slices left so I just tore them into little pieces and put them on top of the nachos.) While the nachos were baking, I made some guac. and spread that on top after they came out of the oven.