Easy Veggie Tostadas

I have a confession to make ~ I am having a real hard time with time management at night. Many nights a week I am still either cooking or doing dishes at 8 p.m. or sometimes even 9 p.m. and I've gotta say I am starting to feel worn out. There is nothing I hate more than being stuck in the kitchen while some of my all-time favourite shows are playing in the background. Oh NCIS: Los Angeles (and Chris O'Donnell), how I have missed you. I promise to recommit to our Tuesday night date time starting NOW.

In order to make more time for myself in the evenings, I've decided that in addition to making healthy dinners each night, I need to focus on making things that are quick to whip up with fairly easy clean up.

Tonight I was successful! I set out to make mushroom tacos and I ended up with veggie tostadas. Long story about how this happened, but let's just say the only way I can succeed with corn tortillas is when they are laying flat. I love it when you end up with a meal that is so delicious and unexpected! This fits my criteria of quick, easy, delicious and little clean up required. I also love this meal because it can be vegetarian for me, but shredded chicken would make this a perfect meal for Derek as well. We love Mexican food and these tostadas are awesome!!

Veggie Tostadas
Makes 4 tostadas - serves 2 people

This is an easy, delicious dinner that can quickly be whipped on a weeknight when you don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. The nice thing about this recipe is that you can substitute any veggies that you have on hand and you could also substitute the refried beans for any other beans you like. Just mash them up a bit before putting them onto the tostada. A salad is a great addition to round out this meal.

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, cut into half moons
1 package of sliced crimini mushrooms (227g)
1/2 red pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and then thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
pinch sea salt
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 - 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
4 corn tortillas
1/2 c vegetarian refried beans
4 corn tortillas
3/4 cup grated cheese

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and garlic. Add a pinch of sea salt and cook for 3 minutes.

Add the mushrooms, zucchini, red pepper, chili powder, cumin and red pepper flakes. Cook for an additional 6 - 8 minutes or until the mushrooms are starting to brown.

Cumin & chili powder...two of our favourite spices!

Doesn't this look fantastic!? 

While the veggie mixture is cooking, place your corn tortillas in the oven on the middle rack. Leave them for only a few minutes. You want them to be crispy and starting to  brown.

Remove the tortillas from the oven. Now we are ready to assemble our tostadas!

First, smear approximately 2 tbsp of refried beans on each tortilla.

Top with veggies.

Sprinkle with shredded cheese.

Place the tostadas on a cookie sheet and return them to the oven. Bake until the cheese is melted -approximately 5 - 7 minutes.

Remove from oven. Serve and enjoy.

I served my tostadas with a chickpea feta salad. This meal was delicious!!!

I was so sad Derek wasn't home to enjoy this meal ~ he's the one that introduced me to "real" Mexican food ~ he went to school in Texas and considers himself a connoisseur :-). The only thing that might have made this better would have been some fresh guacamole (doesn't it make all Mexican food better?) It will definitely be something that we will add on our next tostada adventure.

What is your all-time favourite Mexican dish?

Did you happen to see Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? I had it on in the background as I was preparing this post. I am absolutely fascinated and appalled at what is being served to children in their schools and the length at which people will go to hide it. The part about the cow and it's yucky bits was utterly disgusting. Any thoughts??

Have a great evening,

Andrea