Sunday, July 5, 2015

Open-Faced Tostadas - Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian

Nothing beats a fast dinner that is really tasty. Even better when you plan ahead and have the ingredients on hand.  One of our favorite fast meals is what we like to call "Open-Faced Tostadas" Is it really a tostada? Beats me! That is just what our family calls it!

It starts with a flour tortilla on a cookie sheet sprinkled with some shredded marble cheddar cheese (or whatever cheese you like) and put in a 350 degree oven for the cheese to melt and the tortilla to heat up and curl just a bit.

What happens next is up to you. My family prefers the Non-Vegetarian route. Before I heat my tortillas up, I brown one pound of ground chuck (poor chuck) in a skillet with one half of a medium yellow onion, chopped. When it is browned, I drain and add one package of taco seasoning per the directions. I have also used shredded chicken seasoned with onions and peppers in lieu of ground chuck.

The best part about the tostadas is that you can stack them up with whatever you want. The main ingredients that ours always have is the following:

Broccoli Slaw
Shredded Marble Cheddar Cheese
Grape Tomatoes
Black Beans (rinsed and heated)
Queso Fresco

I have to say that I have tried several different brands of Queso Fresco and I keep coming back to the Cacique brand. No, I am not being paid to endorse them. I just like them the best.

Once you have your meat ready, go ahead and get your tortillas in the oven with the shredded cheddar to start melting so you can begin to prepare the remaining ingredients.

On top of the melted tortilla and melted cheese I stack the meat, a generous handful of black beans, then a little more shredded cheddar, next the broccoli slaw, sliced grape tomatoes, crumbled queso fresco. Sometimes we add a dollop of salsa or sour cream. It all depends on what we have on hand.

For the Vegetarian version - I substitute the meat for sliced and diced Avocado. I never even miss the meat! And the best part of it all is that I generously sprinkle with Celtic Sea Salt.


It was a wonderful dinner, maybe a little heavy on the cheddar but truthfully a totally customizable (is that a word?) meal for each person in your household!





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