inventing tostadas......

Before we get down to tostadas, you will recall that Penny and I were walking down the street, and our neighbors Paul and Julie surprised us with a note on their tree....from the flattened dead squirrel in front of their place....WELL, I had to make a little art project of my own and add it to the tree......

Now, I did not invent tostadas, NO. I realize that. What are they, you ask? In my experience, tiny little Mexican pizzas. A flat round corn tortilla is all crisp and cooked beforehand, like a taco, and you buy them in a box at the store, smear stuff on them, bake it up! Me and the wife have had gorgeous gourmet tostadas at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, and there is no reason you can't put anything on there and it will be awesome. I was at the store this week, and it is a GREAT store, but no tostadas! Just a load of tacos and tortillas. Our neighbor tells me he makes them by cracking tacos in half. Not a bad idea. BUT....

well, I figured I could do it my way. The store has these huge flour tortillas I buy every week, they are about 10 x 12 inches, and full of nice and natural ingredients. If I had thought ahead, i would have bought the nice little corn tortillas, but I did not think ahead, so I decided to make my own tostadas by cutting each huge tortilla into quarters. More on that later.

OK, the black bean part. I read in the newspaper once "make your own refried beans!" and considering how tasty homemade beans are, why not? I never do it the same twice, depending on what is in the fridge and the prevailing mood. Here is yesterday (and be aware--I don't use salt to cook, there is always plenty of salt in the various ingredients, and keeps our blood pressure happy)

Gary's refried beans

--dice and saute in oil in large pan:

small onion, small bell pepper, huge jalapeno (bigger than my thumb!), a carrot, several cloves of elephant garlic--I am not messing around with small garlic anymore....I sometimes toss in tomatoes and other things

--saute 15 minutes

--drain and rinse can of black beans, toss into pot of veggies with a half cup of water, stir stir stir, turn to high until bubbly, then turn stove to lowest temp and let simmer an hour, stirring occasionally----it will be a perfect and pasty, lovely refried bean consistency, and while it bubbles I do the dishes and vacuuming and such.....

--turn heat off, stir in 2 tbs lime juice, cumin, black pepper and oregano to taste, add tabasco too if, like us, you always figure stuff can be a little spicier

To be frank and honest: people always worry that Mexican or vegetarian food will make you...windy...and basically, if you cook things right, and this was just cooked over an hour, it won't make you ...windy....

OK, now the tostada part:

--using either small round corn tortillas or flour tortillas cut the right size, heat a couple of spoonfuls of oil in your fry pan....toss in the tortillas singly, doing each side for a minute...yesterday I did 6 small ones

--lay each tortilla on a cookie sheet, cover with some beans, then I added chopped veg. sausage, tomato, olives, and veg. cheese

--bake at 350 for 10-15 until looking good and crispy! OH YUM!