Black Bean Tostadas (GF)

When I was growing we would always have 'Tostada Night' at home, where we'd build our own tostadas with a buffet of ingredients.

Usually ground beef, refried pinto beans, cheese, tomatoes, and sour cream on a fried corn tortilla. Sounds good right? It was.



I decided to make my own version, with homemade refried black beans and no meat (I try to go meatless at least twice a week). You can definitely use canned black beans instead of making them from scratch. I'll admit, it's pretty time consuming-letting the beans soak for eight hours and then simmering them for two. But I really enjoy knowing exactly what's going into them.




I used gluten free corn tortillas and baked them in the oven instead of frying them. I also topped them with organic baby romaine leaves, for added nutrition.

My husband has his own secret taco sauce that he loves to make, so we topped it off with that, and served them with Homemade Baked Tortilla Chips.

 Turns out, this is a new recipe that will be repeated in the Holderby home quite often.




Ingredients: Makes 4 tostadas

1 1/2- 2 cups refried black beans (recipe below)
cooking spray
4 gluten free corn tortillas
chopped onions
chopped tomatoes
taco sauce (recipe below)
shredded monterey jack cheese
fresh limes for garnish

(FOR SECRET TACO SAUCE)
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
juice of one lime
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tablespoon sriracha sauce (or less if you can't take heat)
dash of cayenne
dash of salt

(FOR REFRIED BLACK BEANS)
1 cup of dried black beans (soaked for 8 hours and drained)
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup water
1 tablespoon cumin
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
chopped cilantro
dash of cayenne
cilantro
juice of 1 lime

Add olive oil and garlic to a pot and sauté for one minute or until garlic is fragrant. Carefully add black beans and chicken broth to a pot and bring to a simmer. Add water, salt, cumin and cayenne, stir and put a lid on pot. Allow to simmer, stirring occasionally for one hour. After an hour, remove lid and allow to simmer until beans are cooked through. It took mine about 45 more minutes.

Once beans have cooked mash them with a potato masher, adding more water if necessary, until beans have a refried bean consistency. Add chopped cilantro and mix. Salt to taste and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray tortillas with cooking spray on both sides and place on baking sheet. Bake until crisp, about 15 minutes.

Spread refried black beans on each crisp tortilla. Next sprinkle cheese, then lettuce, tomatoes, onion, and secret taco sauce. Serve with fresh cut limes.