.grilled chicken tostadas.

This was a new recipe I found in an old magazine of mine. We had been purging like mad a couple weeks ago and there was a magazine stash in our closet upstairs that had almost a dozen old Bon Appetit on the shelf! What a surprise!

I was really interested in making these because they're grilled, which means not as fattening ladies AND it meant I didn't have to turn my stove or oven on for anything. Even better! Very fast and easy to make. I know it's fast because we were starving and I had them done within a half hour.


Let's start with our prep.


Start with some shredded chicken. I had cut up a fryer the other night to make Jerk Chicken Salad w/ Grilled Pineapple Salsa. I only used the breasts for the salad, then cut the other pieces for fried chicken. There was still quite a bit of meat left on the carcass so I tossed the rest of the bird into a pot with celery, onion, bay leaf, and carrot and then filled it up with water. Left on a stovetop to simmer and I have some chicken stock now and all of this wonderful cooked chicken. I pulled it off the cooked meat and then seasoned with chili powder (about 1 tsp) and some salt.



Grate some Cotija cheese. This is a mexican cheese made from cow's milk. It's a harder cheese and when you go to grate it, you'll find it more or less just crumbles on contact. It also has wonderful flavor. I found this at Walmart. If you have a Mexican grocery store, you can also find it there.


Cotija doesn't melt like normal cheese, so for added measure I grated some cheddar. Mix the two cheeses together.

Seed and dice some tomato.


Finely shred some lettuce.


Dice a little onion.


Chop a little cilantro.

Now comes the fun part! Grilling!


Place three fajita size flour tortillas on a hot BBQ grill. I didn't put any kind of oil on these. They don't need it.


When they start browning nicely, flip them over. Let them grill for just a minute before putting the toppings on.


Pull all of the tortillas close to the edge away from the heat. Top with some pinto beans (drained and rinsed), a little onion, tomato, chicken, cilantro, and cheese.

Push them back a little, turn the heat down to low and put the lid down and let the cheese melt.


This is what they'll look like when done. As you can see the cotija cheese holds it's shape. Remove from the grill and bring inside.

Top with shredded lettuce, sour cream, and guacamole. We also put some salsa on top. Enjoy!

.grilled fish tacos.

I get requests from time to time from blog readers. I *love* these requests because it gives my family the opportunity to try dishes that I probably would never fix. This recipe for grilled fish tacos was requested by Jenni. (Hey Jenni! :D)

If you've had fish tacos, you're probably familiar with how they are made. The fish is usually battered and fried. We were looking for a more healthy alternative so instead of frying, we grilled. Of course, you'll have to overlook the fact that I heated the tortillas in oil, am using Mexican crema, and guacamole. I mean... yah.. it's "healthy". LOL You could probably heat the tortillas in the microwave to soften them up if you want to skip the oil route.



I started with some tilapia. You're going to want a fish that will not fall apart once it's cooked. Sea bass and cod are other options if you can't, or don't like, tilapia.



In a bowl, mix together the juice of two limes, 1/4 cup olive oil, some cilantro, and salt and pepper.



Pour on the filets and let marinate for about 20 minutes. The acidity from the limes will actually start to cook the tender fish, so you don't want to let them marinate for too long.



While those sit, thinly slice or shred some cabbage.



For visual color, shred up a little red cabbage as well.



(I'm going to have to figure out a dish to use up the rest of my cabbage. Hubby is NOT a fan so it'll have to be a)really good that he will love it, or b)something I will enjoy eating a lot of. LOL)



Slice up some red onion.



And wedge some limes. These are to squeeze onto your tacos right before eating, and also to help hold them up on your plate. Pretty cool huh?



Oh and we can't forget radishes. You can slice these nice and thin so you can put them directly on your taco. I left mine halved to eat on the side.



Arrange everything all pretty like on a tray.



Heat a little oil in a skillet and carefully put two CORN tortillas in, stacked on top of each other. We want to fry them together.



After a minute, flip them over and do the other side. Pull from the oil and let sit on paper towels. Do this until you have as many tortillas as you need. If you do this step ahead of time, throw them in the oven to warm back up.



Grill up your fish. Look how yummy that looks.



You're going to want a bottle of this. Mexican Crema. If you can't find it, do a google search for it and you can find easy directions. It takes a day to make though.

Now it's time to assemble. Put some fish on the tortilla, spoon a little crema on top of the fish, then some cabbage and onion. Top with some hot red salsa and guacamole.

I topped ours with fresh pico de gallo instead of salsa. It was very yummy. Serve with beans and rice.

.cherry enchilades.

I came across this recipe not too long ago while searching for something. I'm a big fan of cherries, especially cherry pie. Remember when McDonalds used to sell cherry pie? Not sure why they decided to do away with it because I don't like their apple pies. Blech. There's something about the tartness and the sweetness that makes me go, "ooooooooooh!"


This recipe is rather easy and I really mean that. I know I say things are easy, but my idea of easy is often very different than someone elses. The *only* thing about this dish, is you have to start the night before. But really... it is *SO* easy!!!!!



Take some fajita size tortillas. The recipe calls for 8, but you can make as many of these bad boys as you see fit.

For every 8 tortillas, you need 1 can pie filling.

Put cherries down the center and carefully roll up.

Once you fill up your pan, cover tightly with foil and put in the fridge. Keep it in there overnight.

About 1 hour before serving, take the enchilades out of the fridge. Leave them covered.


In a saucepan, put 1/3 cup butter.....

1/2 cup brown sugar.....

1/2 cup sugar.....

and 1/2 cup water.

Bring to a boil. Cook for 3 minutes.

Pour the sauce over the enchilades and let sit for 30 minutes.



While that's sitting, we're going to toast some almonds.

Preheat oven to 450*. Put 1/2 cup blanched, slivered almonds in a pie plate. Put in the oven and keep a close eye on them to make sure they don't burn. Once toasted, pull from oven and set aside.

Reduce heat on oven to 350* as soon as almonds are out.

Put the pan in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. This is what the enchilades will look like when they come out. Nice and golden and caramelized on top. Yummy!



To serve: Plate one or two enchilades on a plate. Put a large dollop of whipped cream in the center. Put a maraschino cherry on top. Sprinkle the top lightly with cinnamon. Take a small handful of toasted almonds and sprinkle those around as well.


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_55fhk9gcz7

.fruit salsa w/ cinnamon tortilla chips.

I went to a party once when I lived in Virginia where this dish was served. My friend, Jenna, said she got it out of the Better Homes and Garden cookbook. Well, I looked in mine and it's not in there.... but she's a lot younger than I am so she probably had a newer addition. I loved it. Not only was it a really light, fresh appetizer, it was really pretty and tasty! Good food is usually very visually pretty. ;)



This is also a very low-fat/low-cal recipe so you can't go wrong with this dish! Here's how we make it.



Take 10 fajita sized tortillas. Cut in half, then in half again. Then in half again. We're quartering them to make our baked cinnamon tortilla chips.

Arrange the tortilla wedges on a baking sheet. You'll need to use about 3 sheets, or just keep cranking them out using one. You don't want them to overlap or else they won't get crispy in the oven.

Melt 1/4 c. butter in the microwave.

Brush the wedges lightly with some of the melted butter.

Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon sugar. Put in a 350* oven for 10 minutes. After those 10 minutes are up, turn the oven to 400* and bake another minute. This will crisp up those chips!








Pull chips from the oven and let cool. These can be made the night before and put in a ziploc to keep fresh.


[TIP: Instead of throwing out your spice jars, clean one up and put some sugar and cinnamon in it. Shake well. Mark the lid with a STAR for easy finding. You'll always have cinnamon/sugar ready for toast or other things like this!]



While the tortilla wedges are in the oven we're going to make the salsa.

Peel and finely dice one mango.

Peel, slice, then finely dice 2 kiwi.



Make sure when you buy the kiwi that they aren't too squishy. They need to be firmer or else they will be nothing but mush when you go to dice.

Dice about 2 cups strawberries.



Put all the fruit in a bowl and mix together.

Using the small grate on your cheese grater, zest one lemon. Only grate once or twice in the same spot. You don't want any of the pith (the white stuff under the pretty yellow skin). Add to the bowl.

Cut the lemon in half and squeeze into the bowl. Take any seeds out that might have fallen from the lemon into the bowl.

Sprinkle in about 1 Tbsp shredded coconut. Stir everything together.



This salsa is adaptable for anyone's taste. Pineapple would be a wonderful compliment to this, but my husband doesn't care for pineapple. I added a little diced banana to my bowl. If you use banana, make sure you add it at the very last minute because they brown quickly.



You can also add plum, peaches, and some chopped mint!





[TIP: When you only need half of a lemon, use the other half to bleach and sanitize your cutting boards. Sprinkle some salt on the flat side of the lemon and then rub in a circular motion. Let sit for 1/2 hour before washing.]