Finding healthy go-to meal options that are quick without sacrificing flavor can sometimes be a challenge. Honestly, sometimes what I throw together for a meal isn’t always the best for you. This recipe from Tasty Kitchen member, Lindsay for Healthy Black Bean Tostadas with Cilantro Sauce can change all of that. This recipe can be totally prepped ahead and refrigerated to be able to put together later in under 10 minutes. And although I’ve made black bean tostadas before, the cilantro sauce in this recipe makes this recipe over the top in flavor. The sauce alone will be something that I make jars of to keep on hand for a salad dressing. Made with only plain Greek yogurt, garlic, cilantro and salt, it’s crazy low in calories. And it’s crazy good. And crazy easy. I’m not kidding. Crazy.

To get started you’ll need: black beans, chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, water, cilantro leaves (not shown), plain Greek yogurt, garlic, salt, flour tortillas, diced tomatoes, avocado, and shredded lettuce.

Whoops, forgot the cilantro leaves in the above photo. Use fresh cilantro for this recipe. Dried cilantro just won’t make for the same tasty sauce.

Other toppings could be added if desired. Lindsay suggests cheese, lime wedges, salsa, roasted corn and peppers.

Begin by preheating the broiler, and draining the beans.

In a blender or food processor (or with a little mashing and mixing by hand), puree the black beans, chili powder, cumin and cayenne pepper. Add a little of the water as needed to help blend the ingredients together. Blend for about a minute or so. You’ll see a little texture was left in the mixture. Cover and set aside.

To create the sauce, blend together the cilantro, yogurt, garlic and salt in a blender or food processor until combined. Adjust seasonings to your taste.

Both the black bean mixture and cilantro sauce can be prepared ahead and refrigerated, making this a quick healthy go-to meal or snack.

In the preheated oven, place tortillas directly on the oven rack and broil each side for about 3-5 minutes or until browned and crispy.

I set out all the ingredients and let everyone fix their own. It was a tostadas bar, y’all. I should’ve made more cilantro sauce. It disappeared quickly.

Begin building the tostada by topping a tortilla with the black bean mixture.

Next add tomatoes, lettuce and avocado.

Then the pièce de résistance: the cilantro sauce. (I guess that should be the Spanish equivalent for pièce de résistance instead?)

Oh my. Delish!

Thanks to Lindsay for this healthy, but very tasty option. Check out Lindsay and her husband Bjork’s other offerings over at Pinch of Yum.

Printable Recipe

Healthy Black Bean Tostadas with Cilantro Sauce

by Lindsay on September 2, 2012 in Special Dietary Needs, Vegetarian September 2, 2012 Special Dietary NeedsVegetarian

See post on Lindsay’s site!

4.75 Mitt(s) 4 Rating(s)

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 10 mins

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 4

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Description

A crispy baked tortilla loaded with good stuff.

Ingredients

• 2 cans (15 Oz. Size) Black Beans
• 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
• 1 teaspoon Cumin
• ¼ teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
• ¼ cups Water (optional)
• ½ cups Packed Cilantro Leaves
• ⅔ cups Plain Greek Yogurt
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 4 whole Flour Tortillas
• 4 whole Tomatoes, Chopped
• 1 whole Avocado, Cubed
• 2 cups Shredded Lettuce

Preparation Instructions

Preheat the broiler. Rinse and drain the beans. Puree the black beans, chili powder, cumin, and cayenne in a blender or food processor, adding a tablespoon of water at a time to help the mixture move, if necessary. I ended up using about 2 tablespoons water and pureed for a minute or two but still left some texture.

In a food processor or blender, puree the cilantro, yogurt, garlic, and salt, adjusting the seasoning with more cilantro/salt/yogurt to your taste.

Place tortillas in the oven directly on the rack, taking care that the edges are all supported by the rack (otherwise they will bend through the cracks and it will be bent in a funny shape). Let the tortillas bake for 3-5 minutes on both sides until they are browned and crispy.

Top the crispy tortillas with black beans, tomatoes, avocados, and lettuce. Drizzle with cilantro sauce.

Notes:
Holding the tostadas while you spread the bean mixture helps them not to break apart.
Other topping ideas include cotija cheese, lime wedges, salsa, ranch dressing, or roasted corn or peppers.

 
 
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Amy Johnson is a blogger who writes about food, travel, the home (both inside and out), and various observations and random musings about anything and everything. Visit her blog She Wears Many Hats for a dose of deliciousness, practicality, hilarity, or just plain fun. She lives in South Carolina with her husband and two children.

 
After all those delicious holiday cookies and treats, I’m ready for a bit of lighter fare. I’m thinking salads. Lots and lots of loaded salads are in my near future. And with a fabulous loaded salad, you’ve got to have an awesome dressing. The dressing is pretty much the most important part. It gets slathered all over the entire thing, so it’s gotta be kinda perfect.

This Herb Mustard Vinaigrette is the ultimate salad dressing. My future mother-in-law whipped up a salad for us with this dressing and I pretty much fell in love. I tweaked a few things here and there and the result is delicious. You can throw this on any kind of salad, with or without protein, and it’s going to be great!

Okay, here’s how to do it.

Start with an empty jar with a lid. I’m all about easy cleanup, so the jar is just perfect. You add all the ingredients, shake it up, and then store it in the fridge. No cleanup at all!

Add some freshly chopped garlic…

A few chopped shallots…

A dollop or two of whole grain Dijon mustard…

Some dried oregano…

Followed by some dried parsley.

Throw in some freshly cracked black pepper.

And a sprinkle of flaky salt.

Next, pour in some red wine vinegar.

And a healthy pour of olive oil.

Top it off with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Tightly put the top back on. This is key. Otherwise you’ll have a giant mess.

Shake, shake, shake. And shake, shake, shake some more!

Then use it for all of your salads!

This dressing keeps well in the fridge for about a week. Just let it come to room temperature about 30 minutes before using it!

It’s particularly delicious on spinach salads with chicken. Or steak. Ok, it’s just awesome. You have to give it a try!

Printable Recipe

Herb Mustard Vinaigrette

by whatsgabycooking on January 2, 2012 in Salad Dressings, Salads January 2, 2012 Salad DressingsSalads

4.50 Mitt(s) 2 Rating(s)

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: -

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 8

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Hands down the best vinaigrette ever. Perfect for all the healthy eating this month.

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons Garlic, Minced
• 2 teaspoons Shallots, Minced
• 2 Tablespoons Grainy Dijon Mustard
• 2 teaspoons Dried Oregano
• 2 teaspoons Dried Parsley
• ½ teaspoons Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
• ½ teaspoons Kosher Salt
• ¼ cups Red Wine Vinegar
• 1-¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Finely Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Preparation Instructions

Combine all the ingredients in a mason jar.

Screw the lid on tightly and shake shake shake!

Serve as needed. Keep refrigerated.

 
 
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Gaby Dalkin is the young lady behind What’s Gaby Cooking, a food blog that’s bursting at the seams with incredible recipes and food photography. She’s a personal chef and professional recipe developer, and if you follow her on Twitter, you’ll soon discover her two-fold obsession: guacamole and cheese. She has small feet, a large heart, and a smile that can light up the whole building. We’re pretty stoked to have her here.

 
One thing that is pretty much always in my refrigerator is almond milk. I love the nuttiness of the plain and vanilla flavors. And the chocolate almond milk? There’s just nothing like it in a tall glass of iced coffee.

And even though I love making many things from scratch, it just never occurred to me to make homemade almond milk until I saw Jennifer’s recipe here on Tasty Kitchen!

It also never occurred to me how simple it is to make it. Literally all you need is almonds and filtered water, along with any flavorings you’d like. In this case, I tried vanilla and a bit of honey.

The main thing is to soak the almonds in water for up to 6 hours, which will soften them and make it easier to extract the flavor from them once they are blended.

But since I’m not a very good planner, I only soaked them for an hour and the recipe still worked very well.

One other option is to use blanched almonds without skins for a very pure color. But hey, I don’t mind beige almond milk myself.

Once your almonds have soaked, combine them along with filtered water in a blender and give them a whirl for a few minutes.

A nice head of foam will start to form and that’s when you can stop and add the flavorings.

I added some honey from my bees here. But you could try stevia or maple syrup or leave it plain too.

Then I added vanilla. Once again, you could skip this or add cocoa powder, chocolate syrup, cinnamon, and so many other things.

Blend these ingredients together for another 30 seconds and then get ready for the filtering process.

Cut a swatch of cheesecloth and layer it into about four layers. Give it a rinse under cold water and squeeze out the excess. Then drape it over the mouth of a pitcher or Mason jar. If you want to help yourself out you can secure it with a rubber band. Pour in the liquid a little at a time, pressing the excess ground almond that gathers as you go.

It will help to scoop away some of the ground almond if it builds up too much.

Your contraption will look something like this. Keep adding until you’ve pressed in all of the liquid.

And there you will have homemade almond milk!

Thanks so much to Jennifer’s for this great recipe! I’ll never have to buy it again.

Printable Recipe

Homemade Almond Milk

by Jennifer on October 7, 2011 in Drinks, Non-Alcoholic October 7, 2011 DrinksNon-Alcoholic

4.00 Mitt(s) 2 Rating(s)

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: -

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 6

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Almond milk is so easy to make, and so sweet. It’s a beautiful addition to cereal or your morning coffee.

For this recipe, you need cheesecloth, a big pitcher, and a blender.

Ingredients

• 1 cup Almonds, Unsalted (preferably Without Skin On)
• 4 cups Cold, Filtered Water
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 Tablespoon Honey
• Optional Add-ins (a Few Are Listed Below) As Desired

Preparation Instructions

1. Soak the raw almonds covered in water for at least 6 hours, and then drain them.
2. Pour the almonds into a blender and add the cold filtered water.
3. Blend well. When you see a froth on the top, stop blending.
4. Add the vanilla and honey.
5. Blend again for another 20-30 seconds.
6. Take the cheesecloth, and fold to ensure it is at least 4 layers thick.
7. Put the cheesecloth on the top of the pitcher and secure it with a big elastic band. Use your fist to push some of the cheesecloth down into the pitcher so that it is not tight on top.
8. Pour the almond mix through the cheesecloth into the pitcher.
9. Use a big spoon to help push the milk through the mass of almond and into the pitcher.

And voila, you have Almond Milk!

Once you cinch the basic recipe, you’ll be eager to try the many possible variations:

For a chocolate fix, add 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder.
For sweeter milk, throw in a 1/2 cup of dates.
For cinnamon milk, add 1 teaspoon cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg.
For maple flavour, add 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup.
For a sugar-free option, eliminate the honey and add Stevia to taste.

 
 
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There’s so much to say about Georgia, we don’t know where to start. Leaving Wall Street for the French Culinary Institute, followed by a stint at the Gramercy Tavern and La Chassagnette in France, her passion for food and food traditions are evident and inspiring. Visit her site at Georgia Pellegrini, where you’ll find more recipes, photos, learn all about her wonderful books Girl Hunter and Food Heroes, and enjoy her latest adventures.

  Homemade chicken and dumplings. Or, chicken n’ dumplins’ rather, as we like to say in the South. I had been eagerly searching for a recipe like the kind I enjoyed so much growing up and this one, from TIffany (TK member Eat at Home), nailed it. There are many different versions of chicken and […]

I love Georgia Pellegrini. She’s as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside, and her passion for food writing is infectious. She’s also an active Tasty Kitchen member, and I’m so excited to welcome her as a contributor. Take it away, Georgia! –Ree     Sarah Fowler had me at skillet. In […]