Tostadas (recipe)

 

"With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose." (Author Unknown)

 

 Hello, my lovely friends!  

For today’s recipe I’m doing Bean Tostadas and the reason I choose this one is because it’s so simple. This is the way my mom made them, but through the years I tried to jazz up things and nope keep it simple.

 

What you need :

Cook pinto beans or if you only have can refried beans that could work, but if you can make a pot of beans that would be best

Bacon grease (yep I said that. Every Mexican household probably has a jar of bacon grease in the fridge)

Corn Tortillas

Lettuce, shredded

Tomatoes, diced

Cheese, shredded (your choice, I used a sharp cheddar)

Favorite salsa or taco sauce

 

How to cook pinto beans

Real quick clean your pinto beans because there’s sometimes little rocks in there. After that rinse them and add them to a big pot with cold water. Now you could have them sit overnight, but we normally just start cooking them on the stove for a few hours. You have to add water from time to time, but they’re done when you can smash them easily. Sometimes people will add salt or a a slab of bacon, but this is the way I was taught. We usually make a big pot and then freeze them in smaller containers.

 

Let’s make some tostadas…

1. In a good size pan I will add a spoonful (1 TBSP) of bacon grease to the pan and turn on the heat. Once it heats up I take the beans and pour out most of the liquid into a measuring cup and save in case I need it and then I add the beans to the pan. I will start smashing the beans with a potato masher until they’re pretty smooth. During this time I will lower the temperature to low and smash away. I will add salt to taste and if I want that smoky taste to come through I might add some more bacon grease to it. This is not going to be that healthy meal, but it’d a comfort one. Now that your beans are done you can keep them in the same pan or if you’re like me pull out a pretty dish to put it in.

 

2. Now I bring out my cast iron pan and will add cooking oil to it and turn it on high. While this is heating up I will cut my lettuce and tomatoes. We buy the block cheese and that means I have to grate the cheese and that is probably my #1 this I hate doing, but I have to.

 

3. Now that the oil is hot I will fry the corn tortillas. It’s up to you how you like them. My mom likes them a little soft in the middle and crunchy on the rest. I like them all crunchy. I will flip them and will usually cook for a couple of minutes.

 

That’s it. You take your corn tortilla add some beans and all your toppings and enjoy! If you make a big pot of beans and freeze them in containers I will take the container out the day before and let it defrost in the fridge. If you do that this ends up being a meal you can put together in less than thirty minutes.

 

Here’s the yummy finished product.

 

Thank you so much for stopping by.

I wish you a good morning, afternoon or evening wherever you are.

Until next time… Adios!