What's Cookin': Bean & Chicken Tostada

To mimic my son: Hey! Look! A post!

One thing I love to do is use up leftovers. In fact, I detest throwing food away. It pains me to even throw little bits of food in the trash. So I try as hard as I can to make "new" out of old.

Another thing I don't generally like to do is have meat as a main dish by itself. It's too expensive and there are so many meals I can make out of just a chicken breast or two, stretching our meat further. With that idea, the other day I roasted up a packet of chicken breasts with some olive oil, lemon pepper, Pappy's and salt and then chopped them all up to use in various dishes. I had a little bit left, along with some cooked rice, so this is what I came up with last night.

Bean & Chicken Tostadas
2-3 rasher of bacon, chopped
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed (or about 2 cups of cooked beans, if you have them)
2 (ish) Cups chicken, coarsely chopped
1 Tbs ketchup
1/4 (ish) Cup water or broth
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
Salt & pepper to taste
Corn tortillas
Leftover rice

Heat oven to 400 degrees and grease a cookie sheet. Spread corn tortillas out on sheet and spray with cooking spray or brush lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and any other desired seasoning. Bake 10-15 minutes, until crisp and starting to brown. Why buy "tostada shells" when you can make your own?

Meanwhile, in a medium pot or pan place 1 Tbs oil over medium high heat. Add bacon pieces and cook until crisp. Drain (if desired) then add onion and garlic and lower the heat to medium.  Cook until onions are soft. Add beans and smash them a bit to resembled re-fried beans (or you could just use a can of re-fried if you have it). Stir in chicken and spices, adding water/broth as needed to thin it out to a smooth consistency. Lower heat and warm through.

Spread bean & chicken mix on tortillas along with rice and taco toppings such as cheese, sour cream, salsa, tomatoes, avocados, etc.

Notes & Variations: If I didn't have the chicken to use up I would have just left it out. You could leave out the bacon too if you don't have it and it would be a perfectly good meal. Beans are horribly filling and the toasted shells make it a little bit different.