Totally Tostadas

Tonight I made tostadas.  Ok, let me back up...around 9 a.m. today this is what I was thinking:  I'll just pick up a pizza from Papa Murphy's.  I really want to finish that freelance work tonight and I don't know that I'll have time to cook.  Voodoo biker is working...so I might as well just get a pizza.  At noon I came home for lunch (I am very fortunate that I can do that.).  I flipped on the Food Network and Rachel Ray was on with a MYOTO (Make Your Own Take-Out) episode of 30-minute Meals.  She reminded me that no matter what, you always have time to make a 30-minute meal. 

So since I have an hour for lunch, I took some chicken out of the freezer to defrost and set about chopping up 1/2 an onion, 3/4 of a green bell pepper, and a handful of baby bella mushrooms.  I did all this in the 8 minutes it took for my electric kettle to boil water and my coffee to do its thing in my French Press.  (I was dragging and needed an iced coffee for the afternoon).  I put that stuff in the fridge in a storage container and headed to work, leaving the chicken out to thaw.  (It was only 4 hours, I knew it would be fine).

The wind was blowing, literally, 33 mph when I got home, so grilling was out of the question...I poured some honey teriyaki marinade on the chicken (I use it whether I'm making mexican, asian, or just grilling chicken.  It's great!) and threw the chicken in a glass 8x8 pyrex dish.  I baked it at 350 for about 40 minutes or until it was all cooked through.    While it was doing its thing, I got down to business with my freelance work.  When the chicken is done, slice it and reserve for your tostadas.

With the chicken done, I set about cooking some brown rice.  Another 30-40 minutes free to work!  Rice is so easy to just get started and forget about...(with a timer set!)  When the rice was close to done and I was through working, I heated about 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan and dumped in all my chopped vegetables from earlier.  I added 1 chopped garlic clove and chopped another one for some pico de gallo.  I then also chopped about 1/4 of an onion (1/2 cup) and 1/2 of a jalapeno pepper.  I put all that in a bowl with the garlic clove and then added about 2 cups of chopped golden cherry tomatoes (my favorite until the locally grown ones come out).  I added about 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper and mixed it together. 

The pico...or what was left after I ate ;)

So, the rice is almost done, the vegetables are browning and cooking over medium heat until the peppers are soft...better add a bit of cumin (1/2 tsp) and some salt (to taste) to that.  Now it's time to heat up some refried beans and work on my corn tortillas.  I've discovered how to get them nice and crispy without frying them:  the toaster oven.

Use your toaster oven tray.  Put 2 corn tortillas on the tray and spray one side with olive oil spray.  Toast until the edges start to get crispy and dry.  When you see that happen, slide the tortillas out and spread refried beans on them.  Top with some grated cheese and return to the toaster.  Toast until the edges of the tortillas are browned and super crisp.  Everything should be ready by now.  Here's what I do:  Add my veggies, sliced chicken, and pico on top of each tostada.  I also add some sour cream and tabasco of some sort.  On the side I make a small bowl (1/2 cup) of rice topped with pico and hot sauce.

I love tostadas because corn tortillas have about 100 calories less per serving than burrito-sized flour tortillas.  They are tastier too and you can eat them one-handed!  Change up your typical tacos, fajitas, or burritos and make tostadas!