Strawberry Tostadas

It is 2:30 in the morning. I should be sleeping, but my bed partner keeps coughing. I'm a light sleeper and I can only stand a couple hundred coughs before I'm up...permanently. I laid in bed for at least 30 minutes, when I decided to get up and type up a recipe. Hopefully, the coughing will subsist by the time this post is done. I keep up with Bean better on more than a couple hours of sleep.

These vegetarian tostadas were so good. I love avocados and strawberries together. It becomes a perfect marriage when you combine the creamy avocado with the sweet, tart, firm strawberry. I've made a few salsas with these two ingredients, but these tostadas make a wonderful dinner.

Corn tortillas get baked in an oven until crispy. I love baking corn tortillas, they have the crispness of fried tortilla shells without all the fat. You put queso fresco cheese (the creamy, soft and mild unaged white cheese) on them and stick them back in the oven until the cheese is melted and golden in spots. Top these "giant nachos" with a fresh chopped salad consisting of crunchy jicama, creamy avocado, sweet strawberries, lime juice, jalapeno and cilantro (when those last three ingredients are listed, in my book, it has to be good) and prepare for a delicious meal.

Strawberry Tostadas

adapted from Ivy House Herbs

Servings: Depends on how much you eat. Cale at 3, I had 2 and Bean had 1 for dinner

Yield: 6 Tostadas

2 1/2 cups (about 3/4 pound) fresh strawberries, stemmed and quartered

1/2 lb. jicama, peeled and cut in to 1/2-inch dice

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1 small jalapeno pepper, remove ribs and seeds, minced

juice of 1 lime, about 2 tablespoons

2 avocados, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch dice

Salt

6 6-inch yellow corn tortillas

Queso Fresco

Heat oven to 400ºF. In a large bowl, mix together the strawberries, jicama, cilantro, peppers and lime juice. Add avocados, fold together gently. Season with salt.

Arrange tortillas in one layer on a rimmed sheet pan and spray both sides with cooking spray. Bake in oven for approximately 5 minutes then flip each tortilla and bake until crisp and starting to brown (about 3 more minutes.) Remove from oven and sprinkle a little queso fresco cheese on each tortilla. Put the cheese topped tortillas back into the oven for approximately 4 minutes until cheese is melted and begins turning golden in spots.

Mound 1 cup of strawberry mixture in the center of each tortilla. Sprinkle each tostada with queso fresco. Garnish with a cilantro sprig and a lime wedge.