Put fresh summer veggies to work in this light, tasty tostadas recipe.
Summer is a great time for food because so many fresh ingredients are right at hand. There’s no need to use corn from the freezer when you can cut it fresh off the ears you just bought at the farm stand, and snipping cilantro from the garden is so much more satisfying than bagging it at the grocery store.
I especially love finding tasty ways to serve summer vegetables like zucchini to my family when they’re fresh and making their best showing.
The other thing that distinguishes summer meals from any other time of the year is that they have to be quick (who wants to be inside cooking for hours when there is fun to be done?), and they have to feel light (we save our stick-to-your-ribs soups and casseroles for winter).
Year after year, one of our family’s favorite summer staples is our Chicken and Summer Vegetable Tostadas. You can chop and cook the vegetables earlier in the day and warm them on the stovetop just before adding them to the tortillas and placing them under the broiler.
It’s a dish that looks and tastes like it took a lot of time, but it’s really very simple.
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons canola oil
- 12 ounces chicken breast tenderloins, cut into bite-size pieces
- 1 cup chopped red onion (about 1)
- 1 cup fresh corn kernels (about 2 ears)
- 1 cup chopped zucchini
- 1/2 cup salsa verde
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, divided
- 4 (8-inch) fat-free flour tortillas
- Cooking spray
- 3 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (about 3/4 cup)
- Preheat broiler.
- Combine cumin, salt and pepper. Heat canola oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the spice mixture evenly over chicken. Add chicken to pan; sauté for 3 minutes. Add onion, corn, and zucchini to pan; sauté for 2 minutes or until chicken is done. Stir in salsa and 2 tablespoons cilantro. Cook 2 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates, stirring frequently.
- Lightly coat tortillas with cooking spray on both sides and arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet. Broil 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Spoon about 3/4 cup chicken mixture in the center of each tortilla; sprinkle each serving with 1/4 cup cheese. Broil 2 minutes more or until cheese melts.
- Repeat with remaining tortillas, chicken mixture and cheese. Sprinkle each serving with about 3/4 teaspoon of remaining cilantro. Serve immediately.
This post was written by Raechel Myers, who blogs at Finding My Feet and writes devotionals at She Reads Truth. She’s a self-proclaimed ‘font nerd’, and when she’s not elbow deep in her next DIY project, you’ll likely find her happily buried under a pile of library books with her kiddos or sneaking chocolate-covered almonds out of the pantry when nobody’s looking.
