Ok, I admit that “garbage” tostadas is not the most appealing name, maybe even sounds a little gross, but you have got to trust me guys, (I’m originally from New England, the term “guys” applies to everyone and I have yet to break my use of “wicked” or “guys” so “hey guys” keep reading!) these are delicious! Last Saturday night my husband and I were going to go out and grab some food, kind of a little date escape, but the weather was kind of rainy and dreary and honestly, we were just loving the cozy lazy day inside, not to mention we actually were accomplishing some of our endless “to do” list, so we decided to stay in. Problem was, we were getting a little hungry and I had not grocery shopped. These are the times that you do a fridge and pantry clean out and see what you can make, because honestly, we would all be amazed at what ingredients we could put together and make a meal out of that we already have sitting right in our pantry! No trip to the grocery store required!
A couple nights before I had made a huge crock pot full of pulled pork. I love when Kroger puts their huge pork loins on sale, the loin I got was I believe about 5 pounds, no joke, and I think I paid maybe a little over 10 dollars. I had to slice it in half to fit it in my crock pot, and my crock pot is big. I managed to feed my whole family, plus 2 of my sons teenage friends, have leftovers for my husband to take to work on Friday and there was still a container of it sitting in my fridge come Saturday. Well, delicious pulled pork just cannot be wasted, I think it’s actually a crime in Alabama to waste barbeque (I’m kidding, but they do have some funky laws, like, you cannot have an ice cream cone in your back pocket at any time, bummer, huh!) Anyways, back to the topic, during clean out of the pantry/fridge I had all the ingredients to produce a little Mexican feast and then I laid my eyes on the pulled pork in the fridge and it all came together! Here is what happened next;-)
Ingredients:
olive oil for sauteing the onions, peppers and garlic and for cooking the tortillas
leftover meat if you have it, shortcut chicken or steak would also work! Play with it! I used pulled pork!
1 green pepper
1 medium onion
1 package of flour tortillas
1 can of red beans and 1 can of black beans because that is all I had on hand, slightly mush the beans in a bowl
2 cans of plain or flavored diced tomatos, drained
1 package of 2% shredded cheddar cheese
fresh or dried cilantro
1 container of part skim ricotta
lite ranch to drizzle on top
Directions:
Saute onions and peppers until browned, add garlic clove and saute about 1 more minute, mixing well. In the meantime place oil in skillet and heat.
Prep tortillas and cook them one at a time. First add a thin layer of ricotta to the tortilla.
Next add a layer of beans over the ricotta.
Now add a layer of the tomatos then a layer of the onion/pepper mixture. Add pulled pork.
Top with some cheese then add to the skillet and cook for about 2 minutes or until tortilla is browned and cheese is melted. Repeat until all tostadas are done! Drizzle with a little light ranch and serve and enjoy!
I wasn’t sure about the ricotta. I found a tub of ricotta in my fridge that needed to be used within the week and thought I’d give it a whirl with this recipe. Fortunately, it worked out really great and added a really nice touch! Mexican food is one of our favorites and I just love creating new ways to serve it!
Chaos and Cookies 