Mexican Toastada

This vegetarian version toastada was in my 'bookmarked' folder for too long and at last, I got to try them last weekend. A toastada is like an open faced sandwich / taco, but involving fried corn tortillas, refried beans and toppings. There are versions involving fish, chicken and beef too. The refried bean paste goes as the first layer over toastada since it sticks to the shells and holds the other toppings well.
 
If you want to keep the experience of making toastada stress free, go with store bought toastada shells, refried beans and salsa. It cuts down the prep time drastically and one can enjoy toastada in no time. Or if one is feeling adventurous, they can start from scratch including making tortillas at home and frying them. I used the store bought toastada shells and salsa where as I made my own batch of refried beans using red beans. Most of the store bought refried bean cans have lard in them and so watch out, if you are a vegetarian.

Recipe Source: Here
Ingredients:
8 corn toastada shells or corn tortillas
Oil to fry, only if using the tortillas
1.5 cup refried beans 
1/2 cup salsa
1 avocado, peeled and cubed or guacamole as needed
1 small tomato, cubed
Shredded lettuce as needed 
Lemon juice to taste
Salt to taste
4 oz. grated Monterrey Jack, cheddar, or crumbled queso fresco cheese
A handful of chopped cilantro

Method:
* Follow this step only if using tortillas. Pour enough oil in a pan to fry the tortillas and heat it. Drop one tortilla at a time and fry until golden brown on both sides and crisp through out. Remove the tortilla with a slotted spoon or using tongs. Lift the tortilla above the pan so that excess oil drips back into the pan. Place the fried tortillas on paper towels to absorb the excess oil. Or avoid the step and use the store bought shells.
* The original recipe mentions to season the lettuce with salt and vinegar. I combined avocado, tomato, and lettuce and seasoned it with salt and lemon juice instead. 
* Spread a layer of refried bean paste over the toastada. Sprinkle the toppings and cheese over it. Do not load the shell with too much toppings since it becomes hard to eat it without making a mess.


This is going to be a part of Blogging marathon #64 under 'Bookmarked Recipes' and check here to find out what other marathoners are cooking today.

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Pita Sandwich

 

Though a "sandwich" sounded great for a mess free kids' lunch box theme, I had to give up since my kids are mostly the nutella / cheese sandwich eating kind. And when I was thinking about other sandwiches, this pita one did not even cross my mind since it is one of the most mundane things that keep happening in my kitchen. When I discussed about this theme with my daughter, she was in fact eating this very pita sandwich and said 'mom, this one". :)

Trust me, this is a mess free sandwich provided the ingredients used to stuff the pita are cut into big pieces. It is one of my daughter's favorite food and so I thought of including this in this theme. I however would want to make clear that this is a tailored recipe to suit my daughter's taste. Whatever she likes go into this - Shredded lettuce, purple cabbage slivers, carrot slivers, tomato pieces, cucumber cut into half moons, olives, cheddar cheese with ketchup. I usually prefer the tomatoes cut at the ends than the middle portion, to keep out the seeds / juice from preventing the pitas turn soggy. Similarly I would prefer to remove seeds from the cucumbers and squeeze out some ketchup in the middle of the vegetable stuffing. Instead of grated cheese, I slice the cheese slices into long thin strips for making it non-messy.Warm the pita pockets in the microwave for about 10 -15 seconds if needed before stuffing.

This is going to be my contribution to "Mess-Free Kids' Snack / Lunch Dishes". Check what other marathoners are cooking at BM #34.

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Spinach - Chickpea Wraps

My kids, especially my daughter loves vegetable wraps and sandwiches and so when Pavani posted these wraps in one of the earlier blogging marathons, I bookmarked them and tried immediately. She showed how these wraps were picnic friendly and so obviously I feel that they are opt ones for lunchbox as well. These wraps have a chickpea curry + a salad blend filling and are nutritious and yummy ones. The only thing to remember is to prepare a very dry filling. My filling was a little on the wet side since I made them for a weekend lunch. :)

Ingredients:
Tortillas (I used spinach ones. Even rotis can be substituted.)

A blend of lettuce, julienned carrot, sliced red onions

For chickpea filling:

2 cups chickpeas
1 Tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tomatoes
Salt & chili powder to taste
1/2 tsp chana masala

Preparing the filling:

* Soak chickpeas in water overnight and pressure cook until tender. Keep aside.

* Heat oil in a sauté pan, add cumin seeds and ginger. Once the seeds start to splutter add turmeric and onions. Sauté until they soften; next add tomato and cook until done.

* Then add the cooked chickpeas, channa masala, red chili powder, salt and mix well.

* Cook until the curry is almost dry. Take care that the curry is not watery since the wraps are going to be soggy.

Assembling the wraps:
* Microwave each tortilla for a minute.
*  Place chickpea curry filling and the salad mixture on the bottom half of the tortilla and fold the ends over the filling, roll and wrap to make the sandwich.

This is my Day 5 entry for the blogging marathon#10, with the "lunchbox" theme. Check here to find out what the other marathoners are cooking. This goes to Susan's MLLA, guesthosted this month by Simona.

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Simple, Sunday Meals - Soup and Sandwich

Salad:
Carrot, cucumber, lettuce & tomato

Veggie Burgers sans Cheese:
Soy patties toasted with a little butter, shredded lettuce, tomato slices, cucumber slices, dill pickle along with mustard and ketchup gave company to toasted, multigrain, thin sandwich bread.

Minestrone Soup:
This wholesome Italian soup doesn't follow a standard recipe and can be either a vegetarian or a non vegetarian soup. It is prepared with the ingredients at hand and usually contains vegetables, beans and pasta.

Ingredients required for 6 servings:
1 - 2 Tbsp oil
1 small onion - peeled and diced
1 small carrot - peeled and diced
1 small potato - peeled and diced
1 tomato - diced
1 celery stick - diced
1/4 cup of zucchini cubes
A handful of chopped green beans or frozen green peas
Celery leaves
1/2 cup of tomato sauce
1/4 cup small shell pasta (I used elbow pasta.)
1/4 cup any white beans, cooked (I used navy beans.)
1 tsp - Italian seasoning
Salt & pepper to taste
(Also add garlic, if preferred.)

Making soup:
* Heat oil in a deep sauté pan and add the onions. Sauté them on low heat till they turn translucent. Then add carrot, potato, tomato, celery, celery leaves, zucchini, green beans or peas and add sufficient water. Cook on medium flame till the vegetables soften.
* Then add tomato sauce, seasoning and simmer for some more time.
* In the meantime, cook pasta al dente and drain.
* Stir in the cooked pasta and beans. Adjust the consistency of soup adding water, if needed and season with salt and pepper. Let it simmer for a few minutes more so that all flavors mingle.



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Simple, Sunday Meals - Salad and Soup

A simple, healthy meal put together under 30 minutes on a lazy, cloudy weekend.

A Colorful & Healthy Veggie Salad:



M happens to be the official salad maker at home. He & the little one get to choose the ingredients though the latter would be going gaga over olives. This time they together put this simple, healthy and colorful salad. Shredded lettuce, peeled & sliced carrot bits,  tomato slices, seedless cucumber slices, olives, dill pickle, banana pepper rings and bread croutons went to it with a basic dressing of white vinegar, apple cider vinegar and salt.

Navybean - Veggie Soup

And I get to be the soup maker. I don't follow any rules while preparing soups and just go with my instincts and the ingredients I have on hand. Soups are very forgiving and hard to mess up. Play with whatever you have in the kitchen and you would end up with nourishing and soothing stuff in your bowl.
Today, we had this yummy soup to go with that salad.

 

Ingredients for 3 servings:
Navy beans - 1/4 cup, cooked to fall apart stage
Tomato, onion, carrot - 1 each
Chopped spinach - a handful
Tomato Sauce - about 1/4 cup / 5 oz
Vegetable stock / Water / vegetable bouillon
Garlic powder or garlic
Salt & pepper to taste
Oil - 2 tsp
Italian seasoning (optional / any substitute)

Guidelines for soup preparation:
Chop fine - onion, tomato and peeled carrot.
Heat oil in a pan and add onion (& garlic if using). Fry for a couple of minutes till it softens and then add tomato, carrot and spinach. Add sufficient vegetable stock/water and cook till the vegetables are done. (I added a bouillon cube when the water was boiling.) Then add the cooked beans along with the water and simmer for 5 minutes more.
To the veggie - bean mixture, went in the tomato sauce, salt, pepper, garlic powder & Italian seasoning. Add a little water if the soup needs to be thinner.
Check the taste and adjust the seasoning ingredients.
Simmer for about 10 minutes more.
Turn off the stove and serve piping hot.

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