Favorite Meal

Jeff and I always try to eat healthy at home. That's the problem... We do it at home - but the past year have started eating out constantly. I was so busy, tired or because we wanted to -whatever the reason, we ate out a lot. So our goal of the new year was to eat out only one time per week. We always make that Saturday because we are running around or plan an activity away from home. Jeff has been taking his lunch, we eat steel cut oats for breakfast and since before Christmas, we have only eaten out once a week. Wow, we have really saved some money!

One of the dinners that we have eaten a lot are black bean tostados. We discovered we really liked them and they are really healthy! A few people asked for the recipe, which I don't have one since I just "made it". But here is what I do...


BAKED BLACK BEAN TOSTADA
Shells
Brush corn tortillas LIGHTLY with olive oil. You can skip the olive oil, but they don't get as crispy. But just use a small amount. In a pre-heated oven at 350, place them directly on the rack. Flip often - wait until they are golden brown to pull from the oven. But be careful - they will go from nice and golden to nasty really quickly.

Beans
I used canned black beans. Rinse them well. All of the starch settles at the bottom which is just added calories. Smash the beans with a potato masher and add milk to make it a refried bean consistency. (Whatever you like) I add a little cumin, garlic powder, onion powder and salt/pepper. Let beans heat up and simmer for a few minutes.

Top with Lettuce, Tomato, onion and cheese if you want.

Variation:
We do everything the same except we add sauteed chicken with onion and red bell peppers. Season similar to a fajita.
Place chicken on top of beans & top with lettuce, tomato and cheese.

We calculated 135 calories per tostada. This is the bean only tostada. It will vary depending on the amount of cheese you add, the brand of beans, the shells etc.