I
have received lots of comments, questions, and messages about the
"Tostadas" I made last night. As a Tex-Mex food junkie, low-carbing the
Tex-Mex cuisine is a natural.
First of all, a definition of the Tex-Mex tostada: A tostada is a corn tortilla fried flat. It is stiff and should be eat with your hands. A tostada is a layered food, treated almost as a salad. First, refried beans are spread onto the stiff tortilla. (They are important because they anchor the other foods.) The next layer is usually lettuce, and maybe a little cilantro. Most tostadas have a few chopped tomatoes sprinkled on top of the lettuce. The tostada is finished off with shredded cheese (and sometimes ground taco meat).
In order to lo-carb the tostada, I started with the tortilla. For health reasons, I can't eat corn or flour (even the low-carb versions), so I used cheese. I used Colby-Jack cheese from the deli...medium to thin slices, already in a round shape (like a tortilla). I cooked them on parchment paper in the microwave for 55 seconds. You will have to play around with your microwave--the tostada chips need to be crisp, not flexible. A thicker slice of cheese took 2 minutes to get to the correct state of crispiness. Be careful not to burn the chips. That took the tostada 'tortilla' from 23 net carbs in a 6-7" corn tortilla to 1 carb per 'tortilla.'
Instead of refried beans, I mixed cream cheese, garlic, and two tablespoons of Pace Chipolte Picante Sauce. (You can use whatever, that is what I had in the fridge.) Using 2 TBS of cheese mixture instead of refried beans reduced the carbs from 6 net carbs for 1/4 cup of refried beans to 2.6 net carbs for the 2 TBS of cream cheese mixture. That may not seem like much, but you will probably eat more than one tostada for a meal--and beans are not allowed on Induction.
Next comes the 'green' layer. This is normally shredded lettuce and a pinch of cilantro. I didn't have any lettuce, so I used cabbage (finely chopped). Plan on using 1/4 cup lettuce (1/4 net carb) or cabbage (1/2 net carb) mixture for each tostada.
I used meat for the next layer. Some restaurants use taco meat, others don't. I was planning this as a meal, so I used meat. I used 1 lb of ground turkey (0 carbs), 1 can of Rotel tomatoes (7.5 net carbs for the whole can), and 1/2 medium size onion (finely chopped--4 net carbs). I browned the meat and onion, added the tomatoes and 2 TBS SF tomato catsup (1 carb). The total meat mixture was 12.5 net carbs. I suggest putting the entire mixture into a 4 cup measuring cup to see how many 1/4 cup servings you have. I used 1/4 cup serving for each tostada. After making 8 tostadas last night, I had 4 cups of meat mixture left. I figured the meat at 1 carb/serving, but measuring it would have been more accurate.
Last layer--usually, this would be shredded cheese and you would add salsa at your table. Since my tostada chips were made from cheese, I didn't add shredded cheese. I used Louisiana Hot Sauce (0 carbs). My son added Taco Sauce (1 carb/tsp).
Additions: Tostadas are really good with guacamole. If I'd had some at home, or an avocado, I would have added that to the tostadas. Sour cream is also added to tostadas. Both of those items are very low carb.
First of all, a definition of the Tex-Mex tostada: A tostada is a corn tortilla fried flat. It is stiff and should be eat with your hands. A tostada is a layered food, treated almost as a salad. First, refried beans are spread onto the stiff tortilla. (They are important because they anchor the other foods.) The next layer is usually lettuce, and maybe a little cilantro. Most tostadas have a few chopped tomatoes sprinkled on top of the lettuce. The tostada is finished off with shredded cheese (and sometimes ground taco meat).
In order to lo-carb the tostada, I started with the tortilla. For health reasons, I can't eat corn or flour (even the low-carb versions), so I used cheese. I used Colby-Jack cheese from the deli...medium to thin slices, already in a round shape (like a tortilla). I cooked them on parchment paper in the microwave for 55 seconds. You will have to play around with your microwave--the tostada chips need to be crisp, not flexible. A thicker slice of cheese took 2 minutes to get to the correct state of crispiness. Be careful not to burn the chips. That took the tostada 'tortilla' from 23 net carbs in a 6-7" corn tortilla to 1 carb per 'tortilla.'
Instead of refried beans, I mixed cream cheese, garlic, and two tablespoons of Pace Chipolte Picante Sauce. (You can use whatever, that is what I had in the fridge.) Using 2 TBS of cheese mixture instead of refried beans reduced the carbs from 6 net carbs for 1/4 cup of refried beans to 2.6 net carbs for the 2 TBS of cream cheese mixture. That may not seem like much, but you will probably eat more than one tostada for a meal--and beans are not allowed on Induction.
Next comes the 'green' layer. This is normally shredded lettuce and a pinch of cilantro. I didn't have any lettuce, so I used cabbage (finely chopped). Plan on using 1/4 cup lettuce (1/4 net carb) or cabbage (1/2 net carb) mixture for each tostada.
I used meat for the next layer. Some restaurants use taco meat, others don't. I was planning this as a meal, so I used meat. I used 1 lb of ground turkey (0 carbs), 1 can of Rotel tomatoes (7.5 net carbs for the whole can), and 1/2 medium size onion (finely chopped--4 net carbs). I browned the meat and onion, added the tomatoes and 2 TBS SF tomato catsup (1 carb). The total meat mixture was 12.5 net carbs. I suggest putting the entire mixture into a 4 cup measuring cup to see how many 1/4 cup servings you have. I used 1/4 cup serving for each tostada. After making 8 tostadas last night, I had 4 cups of meat mixture left. I figured the meat at 1 carb/serving, but measuring it would have been more accurate.
Last layer--usually, this would be shredded cheese and you would add salsa at your table. Since my tostada chips were made from cheese, I didn't add shredded cheese. I used Louisiana Hot Sauce (0 carbs). My son added Taco Sauce (1 carb/tsp).
Additions: Tostadas are really good with guacamole. If I'd had some at home, or an avocado, I would have added that to the tostadas. Sour cream is also added to tostadas. Both of those items are very low carb.
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