Tostada Tuesday

There is no question that being a lover of food has ignited a plethora of scrum-di-li-um-cious foodie bloggers that want to share their passion for good eats. I would definitely not consider myself a "food blogger", but have taken note that it has been difficult to find recipes for exactly what I am craving, up until now. Thanks to Gojee, perhaps the next best thing in recipe scavenging (aka Pandora for foodies), combines the best from food bloggers themselves in a website that makes it super simple and fun to choose what you want!

Yesterday, my sister and I were browsing through the mouth-watering photos of home-made treats, sweets and eats  when we stumbled upon Roasted Vegetable Tostadas, from the kitchen of Erin Alderson and her yummy blog Naturally Ella. It's normally taco Tuesday around here, but we decided to switch things up a bit.

What you'll need:
2 large cooking trays
1 mixing bowl
4 corn + wheat tortillas (Trader Joe's has the best)
1 bell pepper
1 onion, we used red
1 tomato
1 avocado
2 tspns olive oil 
1 can of black beans (we used re-fried)
1 lime
1 cup of shredded lettuce
Shredded pepper jack cheese
cilantro
tin foil (trust me, easy clean-up!)
ground cumin
cayenne pepper


Total prep time: 45 minutes 


To begin:

Preheat the oven to 425. (Side note: This recipe makes 4 tostadas) In a separate bowl, combine 1/2 cup chopped red onion, 1 chopped bell pepper, cubed tomato and mix with olive oil. Using one of the cooking sheets, cover in tin foil and spread out on flat in order to achieve proper roasting. Place in the oven for about 30 minutes. Continuously check at 10 minute increments to make sure no veggie goes burnt. 

Black Bean + Cilantro Spread: This was not apart of the Naturally Ella's original post because we went with re fried black beans. In a bowl combine chopped cilantro, lime juice and 1/2 can of beans. Mix together using a pinch of ground cumin and cayenne pepper. Set aside. 

On the second baking tray, place 4 tortillas and sprinkle with pepper jack cheese. Place in the oven a rack underneath the roasting vegetables. The cheese and tortillas will cook in about 15 minutes, pull out of the oven and let cool and top off with black bean + cilantro spread. Place in oven for a few more minutes until beans are warm, then add lettuce, sour cream, sliced avocado and salsa if you wish. We used an extra spicy chipotle sauce, which was amazing! 

From here on out, I know where I am going to be getting my recipes. Thanks Gojee & Naturally Ella!