Loaded Tostadas

A simple, endlessly customizable meal, tostadas are one of my favorite mexican foods! There is almost no end to what you could top tostadas with, and they can be extremely budget-friendly. Depending completely on what you top them with, they can be very healthy or extremely not so!

Ingredients:

1 tostada shell (or make your own by baking a corn tortilla for 5 minutes at 350)

3 tbsp refried beans

1/4 cup taco meat (cooked ground beef + taco seasoning)

2 tbsp shredded colby or cheddar cheese

3 tbsp salsa

1/2 avocado, sliced

Step 1: Cook the beef and drain fat. Add taco seasoning and water, cook until water is gone. 

Step 2: In a pan or microwave, heat the beans.

Step 3: Assemble tostada, beans on the bottom followed by meat, cheese, salsa and avocado.

Other toppings I love: shredded lettuce, sour cream, black beans, peppers & onion. You could easily make this vegetarian or vegan too, by leaving off the meat and/or cheese.

What's your favorite mexican food topping?

 

Hearty Mexi-Breakfast Burrito

One day I planned on walking to class in the morning. It was really cold, and I woke up a little later than I planned. But I was starving, and wanted a good breakfast, so I spent the 10 minutes to whip up this filling delight, wrapped it in foil and took it on the road! It was creamy, hot, tangy, and amazing in every way. Totally worth the short amount of time it takes to make.

Ingredients:
1 flour tortilla
1/4 cup black beans
1/2 avocado
3 tbsp salsa
2 tbsp green onion
2 eggs
1/4 cup cheddar cheese

Step 1: Scramble 2 eggs and cook until done. While cooking, heat the beans & tortilla in the microwave for 15 seconds.

 Step 2: Put the egg on the tortilla with the beans, add chopped avocado, onion, salsa and cheddar.Fold up one end, wrap one side and then the other. Make sure it's nice & tight. Then wrap the burrito in foil and you have a hot breakfast to go!

Strawberry, avocado & feta salad

I am always trying to get more veggies into my diet, and salads are a great way to do so. But no one likes a bowlful of lettuce leaves with just a splash of dressing for flavor. I like to add extras to make my salads more interesting. Since I had just bought a fresh head of lettuce, I used the fruits/veggies I had on hand, and it turned out great! The lettuce was $1 and I will probably get at least 5 salads from it. The avocado was also $1, as were the strawberries. The feta was left from a while ago (and you can omit the cheese or use whatever kind you like/have) as was the dressing. So for 5 salads worth, the cost per serving is only $0.60! Plus it's good for you, and a great side to just about anything.

Ingredients:
1 cup torn lettuce leaves
3 large strawberries, quartered
1/4 haas avocado, diced
1 tbsp feta cheese
1 tbsp balsamic vinaigrette

Simply toss and enjoy!

Breakfast BELT with avocado & feta

I've read several articles lately that say a breakfast with eggs are the most filling. Since it was the weekend, and I had one egg left, and several veggies in the fridge I had just bought yesterday, I wanted to make a super-healthy and filling breakfast. Tim Horton's makes a breakfast BELT sandwich with bacon, egg, lettuce and tomato on a bagel. To lighten it up, I used one slice of wheat bread as the "B" and in place of the bagel, no bacon, lettuce tomato one egg and added a slice of avocado and a sprinkle of feta for healthy fat and flavor.

Ingredients:

1 slice wheat bread

1 egg

1 tbsp oil

1 romaine leaf

1/2 roma tomato

1 slice avocado

1 tbsp feta cheese

Step 1: Put 1 tbsp in a pan, and fry the egg. If you like yellow, you can leave it runny. I cooked it all the way through. 

Step 2: While the egg is cooking, layer the lettuce, tomato, avocado and 1 tbsp feta on a slice of wheat bread (toasted or not).

Step 3: Lay the cooked egg on top of the feta, and enjoy! The feta gives it a tangy flavor, while the avocado is creamy and soft. If you're vegan you can omit the egg and cheese.

The versatility of veggie/bean stir-fry

Especially during the summer, when fresh produce is cheap and plentiful, a veggie stir fry is always an awesome option. Cheap, easy, very filling and excellent for you. It is also very versatile, as my many meals from the stir-fry will show!

Ingredients: 

1/2 red, orange, and yellow bell pepper, julienned

1/2 zucchini, diced

1 large radish, diced

2 turnips, diced

1 med carrot, diced

1 can black beans

1/2 red onion, diced

1 cup cous cous

 

Extras:

Torn romaine lettuce, tomato chunks, sour cream, salsa, diced avocado

Step 1: Saute all the veggies in order of hardness, until all are tender. Add the black beans and heat until warmed through. Season if you want with garlic and other spices.

Meal 1: Add the stir fry and all extras into a flour or corn tortilla, eat as a burrito.

 Meal 2: Put the hot stir-fry over some freshly cooked cous cous. You can top with hummus, salsa or a dressing if too dry.

Meal 3: Cover a large plate with torn romaine, add cooked cous cous, and veggies and extras on top, eat as a salad.

These meals were all eaten on different days, because the stir fry makes a ton and keeps well in the fridge. This is easy, cheap and very versatile. Add whatever veggies you like and have on hand. These 3 meal types will work well with any kind of stir fry, so go crazy!

Supercharged Turkey BLT!

I had some turkey lunchmeat that needed used, plus 1/2 an avocado, salad makings and turkey bacon. I had wanted to make a BLT, but now I knew that I could make it super-extra delicious!

You need:

2 oz turkey meat

2 slices whole wheat bread

1 slice cheese

1/2 tomato

Handful torn romaine

3 slices turkey bacon

1/4 avocado

4 slices cucumber

Step 1: Cook the turkey bacon, turning once.
Step 2: While cooking, pile on the meat, cheese, tomato slices. On the other piece of bread, add the greens, cucumber, avocado chunks and lettuce.

Step 3: Add the cooked bacon. Very carefully, flip the pieces of bread together. Excellent combinations of flavors, lots of fiber and vitamins from the veggies! As always, just omit the turkey for a vegetarian lunch option.

Chicken Tacos

So yet again I'm moving soon, and need to clean out my freezer and pantry. I had some chicken quarters I had gotten cheap a while back , and was sick of ground beef tacos. So I decided to make some chicken tacos. It helps that Meijer had a great sale this week, $1 bell peppers and avocados.

Ingredients:

2 chicken leg quarters

Taco seasoning

Chili powder

1/4 red, orange and yellow bell pepper

1/4 red onion

1 tortilla

1/4 avocado

2 tbsp salsa

1 tbsp sour cream

1/4 cup black beans

 

Step 1: Put the chicken in a sprayed crock pot, sprinkle with taco seasoning and chili powder. Add 1/4 cup water to keep moist. Cook on high 4 hours or until chicken is no longer pink.
Step 2: Remove chicken meat from the bones and skin, throw it away. Add more seasoning if you like.

 Step 3: Cut the peppers and onion into thin strips. I steamed the peppers for about 10 minutes first.

 Step 4: In a tbsp of butter or oil, saute the peppers and onion until soft and translucent. Add some taco seasoning.

 Step 5: Warm the beans and tortilla. Layer the chicken, peppers & onion, beans, avocado in chunks, salsa and sour cream.

 The combination of flavors is amazing, the creamy avocado, the spiced chicken, the crunchy-soft peppers and sweet onions, tangy salsa, milky sour cream.... just amazing! And so much protein and veggie goodness! Obviously you can omit the chicken and just use veggies for vegetarian, and add as much or whatever spices you like.