Beer Bean Tostadas

I love mexican! Not the melted cheese covered type of mexican that most people like. Instead fresh mexican using ingredients like avocado, cilantro, lime juice. I love to find new ways to eat it and literally probably eat it once a week or at least every other. There is your traditional tacos, enchiladas, burritos, nachos and taco salad. You might have also seen my lettuce wraps, lasagna and pizza. We always have ground beef in our freezer, so mexican is such a great quick lunch or weeknight meal, which I am relying on quite a bit lately. 

Our evenings seem to be filled with lots of things: getting ready for the baby, keeping our new house in order, me trying to continue to learn and accomplish some things on my long personal to do list because our sweet bundle of joy will be here before we know it and that will be our focus! And of course relaxing and trying to take care of myself. My energy is actually pretty good still so I am thankful for that, but instead of being in the kitchen cooking, we are wanting to take long walks with our doggie children while it isn’t too hot. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I tried a recipe for beer bean stuffed peppers and decided to take the beer bean idea and instead make tostadas - one of my favorites. Hope you enjoy!

Beer Bean Tostadas

Inspired by Cookie and Kate

Serves 4 (2 tostadas each)

Ingredients:

Corn tortillas, 8

Black beans, 2 cans or 4 cups fresh beans cooked

Onion, 1 medium (about 1 cup chopped)

Garlic, 2-3 cloves chopped

Cinnamon, ½ tsp

Adobe sauce, 1 tsp (these peppers come in a can; I never use the entire can, so freeze it)

Mexican beer, 12 oz

Salt, if using fresh beans

Heat oil over medium heat. Cook onion for four minutes and then add garlic and cook one more. Add beans, cinnamon, pepper sauce and salt, mixing to combine.

Better Bonus Tip: If you don’t have or want to use adobe sauce, you can use ½ tsp of chipotle and ½ tsp chili powder.

Add beer and cook for total of 15-20 minutes, until the beer is absorbed, on medium low heat.

Better Bonus Tip: The beans will naturally lose some of their form, but feel free to mash completely once done cooking if you would like.

While beans are cooking, fill a small saute pan with oil making sure to cover the bottom and heat over medium high heat. Add the corn tortillas one at a time and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, until crispy. Let drain on a paper towel until beans are ready.

Better Bonus Tip: If you are like my husband and don’t really like to try to eat a tostada, because it can be tricky - try making these into tacos.

Layer beans on crispy tortilla shells and layer with your choice of toppings.

Suggested toppings:

• Lettuce
• Tomato
• Red onion
• Avocado
• Cilantro
• Lime
• Rice
• Corn
• Favorite salsa
• Cheese: your favorite shredded or crumbled feta or queso fresco
• Sour cream

Serve immediately or they will get soggy.

Enjoy! What is your favorite creative mexican dish using fresh ingredients?

~Ashley

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

So this week is my last post on healthy EASY travel and snack foods. I showed you some options on how to make popcorn without the conventional bags full of extra junk. We also made popcorn trail mix and energy bites. Well, last weekend I decided to make homemade granola bars. I have tried many different recipes from others, but as you guessed it, I wanted to make my own giving them my personal twist. I used a mixture of oats and brown rice cereal which are both whole grains. Brown rice cereal is essentially a better version of rice krispies - hopefully your store has a variety, because they add a great crunch to the bars! Keep in mind, as usual my goal is to teach you a technique and then you can experiment from there. I had a friend last week try my energy bites and she substituted a couple things and added a couple others. I loved it! You will be more successful if you use things you like and have around the house. Anyway, today’s granola bars are plain and simple - peanut butter, but this could be your blank canvas, so have fun with it!

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

Makes 8 granola bar squares

Ingredients:

Oats, 1 cup

Brown rice cereal, 1 cup

Natural peanut butter, ¾ cup (my peanut butter is just ground up peanuts)

Maple syrup, ¼ cup

Butter, 2 T

Vanilla, 2 tsp

Melt butter. Add all ingredients together in a bowl and stir to combine.

Better Bonus Tip: Feel free to use honey instead of maple syrup.

Spread the mixture into a 2.2 qt (7.5 x 11 inch) greased pan. 

At this point you have two options. First, stick in the fridge for one hour and you will have a great no bake granola bar. Second option is to bake them. They will get a little crispy and crumbly, so depends what you want. I did half and half. If you bake them, make sure to score them into squares before baking. Bake them at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, watching towards the end to make sure they don’t burn since every oven is different. Very important to let them cool before messing with them or they will completely crumble to a mess!

Better Bonus Tip: Again, have fun with this. Other ideas for mix ins include cinnamon, nutmeg, different extracts, nuts or seeds, dried fruit, shredded coconut, chia seeds, flax seed, marshmallows, chocolate or cacao chips or powder, candies (I like UNREAL chocolates similar to m&ms), pretzel pieces, other cereals.

I personally like them straight from the fridge because they hold their shape and consistency better. This doesn't make them work great for a travel food though because the longer they are out of the fridge, the more they start to fall apart. I plan to keep experimenting myself because these definitely aren’t perfect yet. I think the more binders you add - basically sugary syrups - the more they stick together when baked, but I want to find the perfect balance, because don’t want them to be filled with sugar. I will keep you posted.

Update:

I made these last weekend and wrote the blog this week, in preparation for posting this morning. I was a little bummed how much the baked ones crumbled when we would use a spatula to take them one out of the pan when we wanted one. I had an idea last night, so got up this morning to try it before I posted. I decided to make another batch, score them and bake them on wax paper on top of a baking sheet instead of in the deep pyrex pan (as seen above). I scored them and separate them a bit, so they were still ‘together’ but not really touching. This actually helped! If you want the baked variety, consider trying this method instead of the pictured pan above. Either baked method, they all taste the same - just depends how pretty you want them :). I personally still like the unbaked ones a little bit better. You just get a different crispy texture with the rice cereal that changes when baked. 

See you next week!

~Ashley

No Bake Energy Bites

If you follow my Cooking For A Better Tomorrow Facebook Page, you know I am always playing around and trying new breakfast snacks for the week. Each working morning, I start my day off with a smoothie on the way downtown. Then I always like to have a mid morning snack otherwise I am ready for lunch at 10am. I typically turn to hard boiled eggs, granola, fruit, veggies, muffins, peanut butter and crackers, homemade granola bars, etc. A while back my mom and I made some delicious no bake energy bites and since then I have seen them everywhere! They taste like no bake cookies, but are packed full of healthy goodness. I took inspiration from tons of various recipes out there and of course had to add my touch. They are so easy - literally maybe 15 minutes working time, if that. They are best if you can let them sit in the fridge for 30 minutes before forming into balls, so plan ahead a little bit.

No Bake Energy Bites

Inspired by many

Makes 25

Ingredients:

Oats, 1 cup

Peanut butter, ½ c

Ground flaxseed, ½ c

Honey, ⅓ c

Sunflower seeds, ¼ c

Chocolate chips, ½ c (I used cacao chips)

Orange zest, ¾ T

Vanilla, 1 tsp

Cinnamon, ½ tsp

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and let sit in fridge for 30 minutes.

Better Bonus Tip: Spray a measuring cup with oil spray before measuring honey and peanut butter. It will make it easier to remove.

Roll into balls or use a mini scoop to make it easier.

That’s it! Best if stored in fridge, especially if you have your air off like us and the temperature varies in your house. The super fridge temps will help them not fall apart.

Better Bonus Tip: Play around with your mix ins. Other ideas include nutmeg, other citrus, other nuts or seeds (whole, chopped, ground up, or ground up and rolled on the outer edge of the balls instead of added as the filling), dried fruit, shredded coconut, pumpkin puree, cacao powder, chia seeds, almond butter or be creative and think of something different and let me know!

Between my husband and I, we could have eaten all of them in one day. Hope you enjoy as much as we did.

What healthy snacks do you like to eat? Next week, I am going to try my take on granola bars!

~Ashley

Popcorn Trail Mix

Last week, I talked about GMOs and then gave you a suggestion to start buying your own organic kernels instead of the conventional bags. Did you do it? Okay, I’ll give you some time. Let me know how it goes, if you do decide to give it a try!

I also mentioned last week, that my husband loves to snack on popcorn. I do too, but want a little variety sometimes. Two Sundays ago, I tried experimenting with some different trail mixes using popcorn. As summer approaches, these would be great snacks for a long car ride, airplane trip or just out the zoo! 

Super easy this week! Two different versions: dried fruit, nut and popcorn and a dessert style with cinnamon, honey and chocolate!

Dried Fruit, Nut and Popcorn Trail Mix

Ingredients:

Popcorn kernels, ¼ c unpopped (makes about 3-4 cups popped)

Your favorite nuts and dried fruit (I used dried cranberries, lightly toasted peanuts and almonds) approximately ¼ c each

Shredded coconut, 1 T

Butter, 1 T

Pop your popcorn and separate unpopped from popped kernels. Discard unpopped kernels.

Melt the butter over the stovetop and add shredded coconut, stirring to combine.

Add to a bowl with the remaining ingredients.

Dessert Style Popcorn Trail Mix

Ingredients:

Popcorn kernels, ¼ c unpopped (makes about 3-4 cups popped)

Chocolate chips, ¼ c (I used cacao chips)

Butter, 1.5 T

Cinnamon ¼ tsp

Honey, 1 tsp

Pop your popcorn and separate unpopped from popped kernels. Discard unpopped kernels.

Melt the butter over the stovetop. Add honey and cinnamon, stirring to combine.

Pour butter mixture over popcorn. Immediately add chocolate and stir all to combine. By adding it all immediately, the chocolate chips will start to melt.

Better Bonus Tips: Try different add ins. Some different suggestions include your favorite cereal, pretzels, marshmallows, UNreal candies (regular chocolate or chocolate covered peanut). Feel free to skip the butter and / or add salt or other seasonings. Try melting chocolate and pouring over popcorn that is laying out on wax paper. Also, one I plan to try soon is mixing my granola with popped popcorn.

I thought the next couple of weeks I would share a few more healthy travel snacks, since summer is fast approaching and hopefully people are getting in some vacations or day trips to the zoo, pool, park, etc! See ya then!

~Ashley