Spicy Chicken Tostadas!

Layer upon layer of deliciousness.

And I have more good news: for the first time ever, Steve agreed to take food pictures for me! With his fancy Nikon DSLR (which means: Digital...um...Slimming, yup...Lindsey...Rachel! Or maybe it has something to do with the camera...either way, I just know it takes way better pictures than my point and shoot). So I will not be apologizing for crappy pictures today. I am happy to share with you some real food photography here! Give Steve a hand - it was his very first time shooting food, and it was late in the evening...he did a wonderful job. Thanks Sunshine! Please shoot my food pictures all of the time. Please?

Back to the Tostadas.

Although it could be considered a crime to use something other than my delicious Spicy Shredded Chicken in this recipe...I suppose, if you must, you could substitute ground beef, steak, pork or chicken that has been simply seasoned with taco seasonings. Or lime and cilantro. Or both. It wouldn't be the same, but I suppose it would suffice.

You could also switch up the ingredients in the other layers...use re-fried beans instead of black beans, add a layer of spanish rice or guacamole, or sauteed peppers and onions...go ahead and modify it to suite your taste. But the original version is spicy, tasty, filling, and wonderful beyond compare. Just so you know.

I'll let the pictures do the talking...recipe at the end.

Layer 1: Spicy Chicken with shredded pepper-jack cheese.

Layer 2: Black beans.

(sorry - this pictures was blurry because I was moving) Layer 3: Rotel Tomatoes with Green Chilies

Top Layer: Sour cream, lettuce, red peppers, avocado, shredded pepper-jack cheese.

And the finished product.......................can I get a drum roll please.....................................

TA-DA!!! This one was Steve's, because he is a salsa man. This particular salsa is my mom's homemade variety...the special jars that she makes for me without corn in it, because I don't really like corn in my salsa. I mean, I love corn. And I love salsa. I just don't really like them together in the same jar. And call me crazy, but I love taco sauce. So that is what I dumped all of the top of my tostada. But I digress...what I wanted to say was: Try these. Soon.

Spicy Chicken Tostadas (makes 2, but can easily be doubled)

• 1/2 pound* of Lindsey's infamous Spicy Shredded Chicken
• 8 tostadas (or fry your own corn tortillas)
• 1/2 can of black beans
• 1/2 can of Rotel tomatoes
• 1 cup of shredded pepperjack cheese
• 1 avocado, sliced (I squeezed some lime juice on it so it didn't turn brown)
• 1/4 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup of lettuce, shredded
• salsa or taco sauce (optional)

Make sure your chicken, black beans, tomatoes, and tostadas are very warm. I spread my tostadas on a cookie sheet and let then bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 4 minutes, and I kept the grill warm to keep the chicken, beans and tomatoes hot. I would recommend having all of your fixings out and ready to go, because you are going to want to work fast so that everything doesn't get cold and/or soggy.
Start with one tostada, layer on half the chicken and 1/4 of the cheese. Top with another tostada and half of the black beans. Add another tostada and half of the tomatoes. Finally, add the 4th and final tostada, topped with half of the lettuce, avocado, red pepper, and 1/4 of the cheese. Repeat the entire process on the 2nd plate. Top with salsa or taco sauce if you desire. Enjoy!
* Notice that this recipe only uses half of a pound of chicken, but the spicy shredded chicken recipe makes a full pound...this is because the remaining half pound will be used in the last recipe of this feature, Spicy Chicken Tortilla Soup. If you are cooking for more than 2 people, double (or triple) the chicken recipe to ensure that you will have enough meat for both the tostadas and the soup...they use a lot of similar ingredients and are both very delicious!

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