Zucchini Carrot Refried Bean Tostadas

Happy Friday Eve! The snow is still drizzling down which makes for a super cozy morning. Yet again, a morning where all you want to do is sleep in and then cozy up on the couch with a good book and a cup of coffee. I am still anxiously awaiting the warm spring air that motivates me to jump out of bed and energizes me for the day. Soon enough….right? 🙂

For breakfast yesterday I had a veggie frittata thanks to some meal preparation on Tuesday evening. I used an old frittata recipe of mine for guidance but then added some different veggies into the mix. This time around I added 3 eggs, egg whites, kale, red pepper, mushroom, onions, and a little bit of cheese.

frittata

I took a couple of bites and then realized something was missing…

AVOCADO of course! I also added a little SCD ketchup to my plate. This dish was EGGcellet! I loved that it was ready for me when I woke up. Next time I will add more eggs to make it thicker.

frittata

Dinner

My creative foodie brain started wandering during the last 30 minutes of work about what to make for dinner.  I mentally ran through everything we had in our fridge and freezer.

Zucchini had been on sale this weekend so I had picked up a couple of those and wanted to use that for sure, and I had a huge batch of super cooked and easily digestible chili beans in the freezer and sort of wanted to use those too. After a while of pondering it dawned on me. I was going to make zucchini and carrot tostadas with refried beans! It sounded strange in my mind so no worries if it sounds strange to you right now too, but I just had to give it a shot.

Into the food processor went one zucchini and one cup of carrots which I shredded. I poured them onto a thin kitchen towel, gathered all corners, twisted the tops together, and rung out as much liquid as possible.

I added the remains of the veggies into a bowl and added an egg, garlic, some almond flour, and seasonings (recipe below for further details). I mixed this together and began forming my tostadas on a baking pan which I had sprayed with olive oil. I used my hands to flatten out the dough into tortilla-like shapes.

Note: You could use cornmeal or gluten-free flour instead of almond flour.

I baked the tortillas at 350°F for 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes on broil, flipping half way during the broil.

tostada

When the tortillas were beginning the broiling process, I prepared the beans: In a saucepan on the stove, I sautéed diced onion in olive oil. I then added the beans, broth, and seasonings and gave it a good stir. I let the beans cook in the broth for about 8 minutes.

I chopped the cilantro, tomatoes, bell pepper, and grated the cheese so that it would be ready to top the tostadas.

Once the tortillas were ready, I plated them, added a sprinkle of cheese, a heaping spoonful of beans, followed by tomatoes, red peppers, cilantro and salsa. You could add avocado, black olives, or jalapeno if you would like too!

tostados IMG_2248

These are super-duper healthified refried bean tostadas if I’ve ever seen them! Don’t expect a super crunchy tortilla; it turned out pretty soft but found if you let them sit for a few minutes after they come out of the oven, they set a little further.

I had made a double batch, but scaled the recipe back for you all because it made an insane amount of these tortillas. I froze the leftover tortillas and plan on using them for mini pizzas in the future!

They require a little bit of work, but I think they are worth it! They were fun to eat!

Zucchini Carrot Refried Bean Tostadas
Print
Serving Size: 2
Ingredients
  • Tostadas:
  • 1 medium zucchini, grated
  • 1 cup carrots, grated
  • 1 garlic clove, finely grated
  • 1 egg
  • ¾ cups almond flour
  • sprinkle of onion powder
  • salt and pepper
  • Beans:
  • ¼ cup onions, diced
  • 1½ cups cooked kidney beans (pinto or black beans would be fine)
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • ½ tsp cumin
  • ¼ tsp garlic powder
  • salt and pepper
  • ½ cup chicken bone broth (veggie broth or chicken broth would be fine)
  • Toppings (optional):
  • diced tomatoes
  • diced red bell peppers
  • grated cheese
  • cilantro
  • avocado
  • black olives
  • salsa
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat one large cookie pan with olive oil.
  2. In a food processor, shred zucchini and carrots.
  3. Pour onto a kitchen towel. Gather all corners of towel and twist tops together. Ring out excess liquid over the sink.
  4. Pour remaining veggies from towel into a medium bowl.
  5. Add egg, garlic, almond flour, onion powder, salt, pepper and mix well.
  6. Use hands to form large balls of dough and place on pan. Pat down to flatten to a little less than ¼ inch high and form a round "tortilla." Repeat until all dough has been shaped.
  7. Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes.
  8. After 20 minutes, turn oven to broil. Broil each side of the tortillas for about 4-5 minutes or until they turn golden and begin to crisp up.
  9. While the tortillas are broiling, saute onion in olive oil in a medium pan on the stove top for about 3 minutes.
  10. Then add beans, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and broth. Stir until beans are cooked through and liquid has cooked out.
  11. Once tortillas are crisp, remove from oven. Place a tortilla on a plate then add the beans and finally your favorite tostada toppings.

 

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday eve! Catch up with you soon!

Question of the day: Have you made any creative dishes lately? Tell me about them and feel free to add a link to the recipe if you have one!

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