As a teenager in the 1960’s I was never exposed to Mexican food—at least until we moved my junior year of high school and a lot of my friends from high school liked to go to “Casa Mora” in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Go figure.
Even though it wasn’t anything close to what would now be considered “spicy”, the food at this sit-down restaurant hit your tongue and burned your belly. Today, it would be mild. We’d scoop the “taco sauce” sitting in the bowl on the table onto our tortilla chips and “snarf” it down taking healthy gulps of Coke between bites, grinning and complaining about the heat as we waited for our favorite dish from Casa Mora to be delivered—tostadas at about 50 cents each. They were good. And messy. And spicy.
We still like to make up a batch of tostadas every once in a while. They’re tasty and easy to make. They’re inexpensive and pretty well balanced when topped by lettuce and tomato and cheese. And there’s a secret to keeping the toppings on the flat crispy tortilla—refried beans used like glue on top of the tostada before putting on the rest of the toppings.
Yeah I know—this isn’t what would be considered “foodie food”, or even very original, but today I’m going to write about tostadas because part of my Cheap Bastid mission is to (as the late, great George Carlin used to say) “remind you of stuff you already know”. (OK, he didn’t use the word “stuff” but this is a “G” rated blog). So here’s today’s recipe: Homemade Beef and Bean Tostadas.
Recipe: Homemade Beef and Bean Tostadas
Summary: Here’s an easy, quick and cheap weeknight supper that’s tasty and provides some fresh vegetables too.
Ingredients
- 1 package Tostadas (get ‘em at the dollar store!)
- 1 lb ground beef (85% works best)
- 1 tomato
- ½ cup diced onion
- 1 cup julienned lettuce
- 1 cup shredded cheese (your choice)
- 1 can refried beans
- 1/3 cup water or broth
- 1 tbsp paprika or chili powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp oregano
- ½ tsp cayenne or chipotle powder (to taste)
Instructions
- Get out your cutting board and chef’s knife plus 4 small bowls. Get out a sauté pan and put it on the stove. Open the refried beans and put in a small pan or microwave dish.
- Cut your vegetables—dice the tomato and onion, julienne the lettuce (small strips).
- Mix the last 6 ingredients (spice blend) in a small container.
- Turn stove burner on to about 5 o’clock on the dial for an electric (medium-medium hi). Put the pan on the burner, let it heat a bit and then add the meat crumbled up. Stir it and brown it. Add the spice blend and stir it in well. Taste it! Add more individual spices if needed (like a bit more salt or a bit more “heat”).
- Add the water/broth to the pan of meat. Let it reduce down so the meat is moist and a bit clumpy without any standing liquid.
- Put the refried beans in the microwave and zap them on high for 2 ½-3 minutes. (Or put them in a small sauce pan and heat up on the stove).
- Arrange everything on your counter “buffet” style so you can build your own tostadas.
- Build your tostada by starting with refried beans. Smear about a tablespoon of them on the surface of the tostada (use the back of a tablespoon—it spreads easier).
- Then add meat, lettuce, tomato, onion and cheese in that order (at least according to Mrs. CB).
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Cooking time: 15 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 6
My rating 5 stars: ★★★★★ 1 review(s)
If you want to use a commercial “taco sauce” or a fresh pico de gallo, go ahead and put some on. Eat and enjoy. This will make about 6 tostadas—more than enough for 2 adults. Take it up to a pound and a half of meat for a family of 4 and increase the amount of veggies and cheese you prepare.
What a simple and fun weeknight, school night dinner. And if it gets a bit messy, so what. That’s what dogs and dustbusters are for. And it’s also a way to get vegetable resistant kids to eat some fresh vegetables.
The Cheap Bastid Test: This is pretty a pretty cheap dinner. You use about $2 worth of meat, about $.50 worth of tomato, about $.25 worth of lettuce, $.25 of onion and $.75 worth of cheese. A can of re-frieds costs $.70 at my grocery store and I get tostadas at the dollar store for (you guessed it) $1. Total cost: $5.45 to make a half dozen tostadas with all fresh ingredients. That’s still cheaper than Taco Bell or anywhere else by about a quarter per tostada. Have fun getting messy and full of this Mexican treat.
That’s the Cheap Bastid Way: Eat Good. Eat Cheap. Be Grateful!
Jaime, thanks for the comments and kind words. Please scroll through the rest of Cheap Bastid Cooks. I try to come up with basic things for families that are inexpensive, home cooked and nutritious. Some of the posts are for food that is a bit less “casual” than tostadas but all of them are an effort to encourage people to cook at home, save money and be just a bit more creative. Thanks again. (Oh and by the way, you’re exactly right about the Madmen reference, although I moved to North Dakota in 1967–but before that I lived in Tampa and that’s where I came to love Cuban sandwiches and food–but in the late 50’s and early 60’s I never encountered Mexican food nor did we have much money for eating out.
Jaime, thanks for visiting again and I hope you come back often and find some dishes you want to cook.