I like easy recipes, but I love experimenting and a good challenge even more. Unless I'm pregnant. Pregnancy Purgatory takes over and demands my complete lack of anything fun or good. I am a prisoner in my own body. I simply eat to survive. Save an occasional splurge out at a restaurant when Baby decides he wants a bit of flavor or -GASP- actual nutrition, 90% of the calories I consume are from toast because that's about all my stomach can handle. Cooking? Forget it! That dives my soul into the depths of Prego Hell.
WHO the crap has that bad of a pregnancy? That she can't even cook dinner??? I do, that's who!
This was a healthy dose of both ease and experimentation. That's why tonight, no matter how bad my feet hurt afterwards, when I got a sudden craving for a Veggie Queso Fresco Tostada I jumped at the chance to make it! I hadn't eaten much for 7 hours, so as soon as my husband got home from work and the grocery store I grabbed the ingredients and set in to work.
.....Did I even kiss you hello, Sweetie? *So sorry!*
Now, I can't cook without doing something out of the ordinary. And since my husband was taking a shower before dinner, I had a few extra minutes to experiment in the kitchen. I cut a couple chunks off my queso fresco and popped it in the oven under the broiler.
Let me explain, I am culturally schizophrenic when it comes to queso fresco! When I lived in Mexico, I was served queso fresco on just about everything. Fresh, crumbly, slightly sweet, super-mild, wonderful cheese! Then, each time my husband and I went to Nicaragua on mission trips with our church years ago, I fell in love more and more with their fried cheese, which is just really, really salty queso fresco fried up. But tonight I didn't want to be miserable with heartburn until 3 in the morning after eating fried cheese, so I just thought, "What the heck, I'll bake it and see what it does!"
Queso fresco is crumbly, but at the same time retains a lot of moisture. So, when I put it in the oven it took several minutes to even start to dry out. The moisture that leaked out at first then burned while I continued to bake it, leaving a blackened film on the foil-lined pan and an unpleasant sweet brunt smell, but the cheese itself turned out PERFECTLY!!! I think next time I will lay the cheese out on paper towels for a few minutes first to absorb the excess moisture previous to baking.
.....Did I even kiss you hello, Sweetie? *So sorry!*
Now, I can't cook without doing something out of the ordinary. And since my husband was taking a shower before dinner, I had a few extra minutes to experiment in the kitchen. I cut a couple chunks off my queso fresco and popped it in the oven under the broiler.
Let me explain, I am culturally schizophrenic when it comes to queso fresco! When I lived in Mexico, I was served queso fresco on just about everything. Fresh, crumbly, slightly sweet, super-mild, wonderful cheese! Then, each time my husband and I went to Nicaragua on mission trips with our church years ago, I fell in love more and more with their fried cheese, which is just really, really salty queso fresco fried up. But tonight I didn't want to be miserable with heartburn until 3 in the morning after eating fried cheese, so I just thought, "What the heck, I'll bake it and see what it does!"
Queso fresco is crumbly, but at the same time retains a lot of moisture. So, when I put it in the oven it took several minutes to even start to dry out. The moisture that leaked out at first then burned while I continued to bake it, leaving a blackened film on the foil-lined pan and an unpleasant sweet brunt smell, but the cheese itself turned out PERFECTLY!!! I think next time I will lay the cheese out on paper towels for a few minutes first to absorb the excess moisture previous to baking.
WHAT YOU NEED:
12 tostadas
1 package queso fresco
2 packages of your favorite frozen vegetable blends (But feel free to add whatever else you like, like corn or beans)
Olive oil infused with your favorite spices
Sea salt
12 tostadas
1 package queso fresco
2 packages of your favorite frozen vegetable blends (But feel free to add whatever else you like, like corn or beans)
Olive oil infused with your favorite spices
Sea salt
HOW TO:
Saute veggies in olive oil and salt them well!
Cut 12 slices of queso fresco for baking. If you like salty food, salt the queso freso before it goes in the oven.
Crumble the rest for the topping.
In a foil-lined baking pan place sliced queso fresco. Broil on each side for about 3-4 minutes, ONLY until it starts to brown slightly. You really don't want it to burn, even though at this point I am calling it queso quemada (burnt).
On tostadas, place broken-up queso quemada (baked cheese), then veggies, and crumbled queso fresco.
Yum! Eat! (This would also be fantastic with a good slathering of salsa verde on top!!)
SERVES: 4 hungry adults 3 tostadas each!
COST: $11 for 12 tostadas (91 cents each)
Saute veggies in olive oil and salt them well!
Cut 12 slices of queso fresco for baking. If you like salty food, salt the queso freso before it goes in the oven.
Crumble the rest for the topping.
In a foil-lined baking pan place sliced queso fresco. Broil on each side for about 3-4 minutes, ONLY until it starts to brown slightly. You really don't want it to burn, even though at this point I am calling it queso quemada (burnt).
On tostadas, place broken-up queso quemada (baked cheese), then veggies, and crumbled queso fresco.
Yum! Eat! (This would also be fantastic with a good slathering of salsa verde on top!!)
SERVES: 4 hungry adults 3 tostadas each!
COST: $11 for 12 tostadas (91 cents each)
No comments:
Post a Comment