Vegetarian Tostadas

After I made that yummy Taco Bell wanna be sauce, I knew I had to use it for more than just eating like soup.  I wanted to make bean burritos, but gluten free tortillas just never seem to want to be made into burritos.  They are always cracking and falling apart so you end up with a burrito in your lap instead of in your belly.  

I needed a quick dinner, so I ended up deciding on bean tostadas.  

I took my gluten free tortillas, crisped them up in the oven.  Then I topped them with refried black beans, an extra generous portion of the sauce, and then topped it with lettuce, tomatoes, olives, and avocados.  After I took the picture, I dumped on at least 3 gallons of the sauce, but didn't want to show that my finished product looked like a crime scene....which may be ok, since Halloween is this week, but not very appetizing to stare at. 

Vegetarian Tostadas

2 brown rice tortillas

Your choice of oil or cooking spray

1 can refried beans

Taco sauce

Assorted veggies (lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, olives, jalapeño slices, onions, bell peppers, etc)

(Non-dairy) Cheese and sour cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 400.  Brush or spray tortillas on both sides with oil or cooking spray.  Bake in the oven for about 5 minutes until crispy.  You can turn them halfway during cooking but it's not completely necessary.  Be careful to watch the tortillas closely because they will finish suddenly and will go from done to burnt in what seems like half a second.  

While the tortilla is cooking, heat your beans, chop up your veggies, and get out any other toppings you may want.

As soon as the tortillas are done, put them on your dinner plate.  Spread each tortilla with half the beans.  Top generously with sauce.  Pile on your toppings and then finish with more sauce.  

Enjoy right away or your tortilla will get soggy.  Enjoy!!!!

Recreating Childhood Treats

Although I don't eat fast food anymore, one thing I will always have a soft spot for in my heart are Taco Bell bean burritos.  When we were growing up, we didn't have much money for extras, especially after my dad died.  Mom would occasionally get us lunch out, which was a huge treat.  Usually it was 39 cent tacos and bean burritos.  You could feed four hungry kids plus mom for about $5!

I was excited when Taco Bell came out with their grocery store line, but was dismally disappointed when I saw all the ingredients.  What are "natural flavorings?"  Usually MSG?!?!?!  Ick! 

I've tried to recreate it at home, but never had good results.  I'm guessing it's because I don't keep a stash of "natural flavorings" in my kitchen.

Then, a few days ago, I found a recipe to recreate those childhood memories.  Yum Yum Yum!  I made it right away.  Hubby declared way better than Taco Bell and said that it tasted way better than something you could buy in a jar from the store!

So if you are like me, and are eating healthy, but still have the occasional cravings for your favorite chidhood treats, go visit Peas and Thank You and make Momma Pea's recipe for  

Border Bean Burritos with Mild Sauce.  

While you go make this...I'm going to go back to my bowl of sauce which I will be eating like a bowl of cold soup...

What favorite childhood treat do you no longer eat but still crave?

Taco Salad with Avocado Dressing

My friend Lauren came over for dinner after she got back from a short vacation.  She said she was needing to detox from all the fun and suggested we make a taco salad.  

My grandma and my mom make this super yummy taco salad that has a homemade avocado dressing  mixed in the salad.  I'm sure I loved the salad mostly because it had crushed up Fritos in the salad, but I did remember that the dressing was really yummy.  

I tracked down the recipe from my aunt and was so disappointed to find out that it had sour cream in it. Dairy does NOT do my body good anymore, so I decided to try to find another avocado dressing recipe.  None of the ones I found were even close to my grandma's recipe, so I ended up combing all the best parts of the dozens of recipes I read into my own, allergen-friendly, avocado dressing.  

I made the dressing in a mixing bowl with an immersion blender, but you could definitely make this in a blender, a magic bullet, or even a small food processor.  

Avocado Green Chili Dressing

1 Avocado, skin and pit removed

Juice of 1 Lime

3 tbl water

3 tbl olive oil

1 garlic clove (I used my fermented garlic)

Small handful of Cilantro (leaves...stems too if you're lazy)

1/2 of a 4oz can of diced green chilies

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 tsp chili powder (opt)

Add all ingredients to a blender and process until smooth.  Cover and chill for about 30 minutes while you are preparing your salad.  

When we made our taco salads, we put in everything that we could find that would go in a taco salad.  Lettuce, tomatoes, taco meat, onions, olives, crushed up tortilla chips, roasted corn kernels, salsa, etc.  I also like to add black beans or kidney beans, but didn't have any at the time. Once again, this is one of those super flexible meals that will adapt to whatever you have on hand.  

This post was shared on Whole Food Fridays Week #11 and Creative Thursday Link Party #26

Lazy Homemade Salsa

My garden hasn't done as great as I hoped it would do this year.  

I'm not really sure what I'm doing right or wrong.  

I'm trying to grow everything organic, but stuff just isn't producing like I had hoped. 

This is only my 3rd year having a garden, so I know I still have lots of learning to go. 

One thing that amazed me this year is that I had a couple plants pop up out of no where and start bearing fruit. 

One is a zucchini plant that has produced two large squashes.

And the other is a yellow pear tomato plant that is the most abundant tomato plant I have ever seen.  

I picked so many of those tiny pear tomatoes the other night that I decided to make salsa.

If you have ever made salsa, it can be quite a labor intensive process, between peeling, seeding, and chopping all the tomatoes and other ingredients.  

And don't forget that time when you chopped a jalapeño and then rubbed your eyes a few minutes later....  OUCH! 

I did not have the time or the energy to do that to a bowl full of tiny tomatoes and a handful of tiny tomatillos. 

So I cheated. 

I got out my handy food processor, dumped everything in, gave it a whirl, and ended up with a tasty fresh salsa.

This "recipe" is very forgiving and can be modified according to your tastes and what you have on hand.

Lazy Homemade Salsa

4 cups of fresh tomatoes and tomatillos (husks removed) 

1 bunch of cilantro, large stems removed

1 onion, peeled and cut into quarters

1-2 jalapeños, stem removed, seeded (if desired...seeds=spicy)

Juice of 1-2 limes

Salt, to taste

Rinse off all your veggies.  Place all your ingredients, except salt, in the food processor and chop until desired consistency is reached, about 5-30 seconds.  Add salt to taste.  Can be served immediately, or chilled to let the flavors develop.  Stays good in the fridge for a couple of days (if it lasts that long!).

Eat with a giant bag of scoops because you are too tired to make dinner and then fall asleep on the couch in your {clean} gym clothes. 

Or pretend you are an adult and don't have the metabolism of a 12 year old, and use it in your favorite recipe, or to top a taco {salad} after your workout and post gym shower.

Changing traditions

Every July, Dave and I make our way to Chevys Fresh Mex, so he can indulge in their fresh Watermelon Margaritas.  I'm the DD and indulge on chips, salsa, and steak fajitas while he drinks watermelon margarita after watermelon margarita after watermelon margarita. 

Source

While Chevy's isn't nearly as good as our local Mexican places, I do love getting the fajitas...the sizzling platter of meat on a pile of grilled veggies, surrounded by all the tasty "fixins"....that dollop of sweet corn tamalito served on a dried corn husk....the piles of soft, fresh flour tortillas to use as a vehicle to get all that deliciousness in your mouth...

Chevy's summertime watermelon margarita trips were pre-food allergy diagnosis.

Now that it's July, and watermelon margaritas are back in season, I can't join my hubby in our summer Chevy's date.  I'm allergic to wheat, soy, cumin, coriander, and a bunch of other things that are typically in Chevy's food.  While they do have a limited GF menu, I still have all the other allergies and just can't eat there, at least for now.  It makes me really disappointed to not be able to continue our summer tradition this year.  Hopefully, by next summer, my stomach will be tolerating many of those foods again and I'll be able to join him.

But for now, I cook at home, using ingredients that I know won't make me sick.But I still wanted our Chevys date.  What should I do?  I don't want to eat myself sick, but it's hard to not do things you love to do...

I remembered a few years ago, Chevy's put out a cookbook of some of there most popular items.  I did a quick search and saw that Chevy's was also kind enough to share many of their famous recipes online.  I found the recipe for their famous steak fajita marinade called "Aqua Negra" or "Black Water." I decided we were going to have our own at-home edition of Chevy's steak fajitas that would be safe for me to eat.

When you have food allergies and sensitivities, any time you make a new recipe, you need to look over the ingredient list and see if everything is safe for you to eat.  If there are things that aren't safe, then you need to ask yourself if there are safe versions of that item you could swap with, if there is something similar you could use instead, or if you could just leave the item out without ruining the recipe.

For example, if you want to make a quiche, but are allergic to wheat, you can use a gluten-free crust.  If you are allergic to cow's milk and the recipe calls for cheese, you could use goat, sheep or soy cheese, or just leave it out.  But if you are allergic to eggs, you may want to rethink making that recipe, and find something that would be easier to make with your restrictions.

The recipe called for soy sauce.  I'm allergic to both wheat and soy.  Most soy sauces have wheat in them, and all of them obviously have soy.  My friend who eats a Paleo style diet introduced me to a product called coconut aminos.  It's a wheat and soy free soy sauce alternative.  It's actually really good and tastes way less salty than regular soy sauce.  I've recently re-introduced cumin into my diet and haven't had any negative reaction, so I'm using that sparingly in my diet from now on.  I revamped their recipe and made a safe one for me to enjoy!

First, I thawed out my meat. Safely. In the fridge.  Please don't thaw your meat on the counter and get food poisoning.  And never in the microwave, because it makes it rubbery and gross.  

I buy my beef in bulk from a local ranch.  It comes individually wrapped and labeled.  It can be frozen for up to a year.  Much better prices than buying it on an "as-needed" basis at the grocery store. 

Next, I mixed up my marinade in a Ziploc bag.  I don't mix it in a separate bowl.  Why dirty another dish?  I think that the bags are much better for marinating than in a container becuase you use less marinade yet the marinade is always touching the meat.  

Meat marinating for 48 hours

I added my meat, squeezed out as much air as I could, sealed the bag, and squished everything around. Then I let it sit in the fridge for 2 days. Every 12 hours, I turned the bag over and squished things around to make sure the meat was soaking up all those yummy flavors! 


The night you are ready to eat the fajitas, start by prepping all your fixing.  The meat will grill up in no time.

all the "fixins"

fresh sliced heirloom tomato

 Then grill up your meat to a medium rare. 

Any more, and it will get overcooked, tough, and dry.   

 

Grilled carne asada

Now it's time to assemble all your ingredients and eat!  

Que aproveche!!!

Fajitas!

 Carne Asada Fajitas

1.5 lbs organic, grass-fed carne asada

1/2 cup coconut aminos
1 cup crushed pineapple in 100% juice
1 tablespoons ground cumin
3 cloves minced garlic
1 lime freshly squeezed

Your favorite "fixins":  shredded lettuce,  chopped tomatoes, beans, rice, salsa, crema/sour cream, guacamole/sliced avocados, shredded cheese, salsa, cilantro, diced onions, tortillas, etc...

Combine all ingredients in a Ziploc bag.  Add carne asada. seal, taking out as much air as possible.  Lay flat in the fridge, turning every few hours.  Marinate at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.  

Remove carne asada from marinade.  Discard marinade.   Cook carne asada on a hot grill until medium rare, about a minute or two on each side, depending on the thickness of your meat.  Chop carne asada into strips or bite size chunks.  Serve hot. 

 

We grilled up a tray full of sliced onions and bell peppers, a tub of fresh pineapple spears from Costco, and slices of fresh yellow squash.  We wrapped everything up in a gluten free corn tortilla that had been softened in coconut oil.  You could definitely serve this without the tortillas or put on top of a salad!  

It was delicious.  It was the next best thing to going to Chevys. 

Actually, it was probably way better for us. 

Except....

I forgot to make the watermelon margaritas for Dave. 

The watermelon is still sitting on the counter.   

Oops! 

Next time.

I felt so bad, I took him to happy hour after work today
so he could have his watermelon margarita.  I stuck to a Sprite
and cooked us dinner at home.