Chicken and Squash Tostadas

Question of the Day:
Pictured to the left are the beginnings of what summer vegetable that I’ve eaten non-stop for 3 weeks now? Can you guess?

Answer: Summer Squash! Shocker huh?!?

If you’ve been reading my blog or following me on twitter for a while, you’ve seen my pleas for zucchini/squash ideas. Thankfully, you’re hookin’ me up! Recently my blogger friend Erin pointed me to a Cooking Light Summer Vegetable Tostadas recipe she blogged about last year. They looked both yummy and healthy, so I decided to give them a whirl. Well, sorta. I used her recipe as the base, but didn’t have all the ingredients necessary, so I modified, working with what I had on hand and tweaking a bit to my preference.

Chicken and Squash Tostadas

Serves 4. Adapted from Summer Vegetable Tostadas at Erin's Food Files

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Red pepper flakes to taste (Optional. I like everything spicy!)

2 teaspoons canola oil

3 chicken breasts cut into 1 inch cubes

1 chopped red onion

2 medium sized squash, chopped

1 cup fresh salsa, divided

3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro, divided

4 (8-inch) whole wheat tortillas

Cooking spray

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (I used a mixture of mozzarella and shredded mexican)

Directions:

Preheat broiler.

Combine first 4 ingredients in bowl, stirring well. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan; sprinkle spice mixture evenly over chicken. Sauté for 4-5 minutes. Add onion and squash to pan; sauté for 5 minutes or until chicken is done.

tir in 1/2 cup of salsa and 2 Tbsp cilantro. Cook 2 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates, stirring frequently.

Working with 2 tortillas at a time, arrange tortillas in a single layer on a baking sheet; lightly coat tortillas with cooking spray. Broil 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Take out of oven and spoon about 3/4 cup chicken mixture in the center of each tortilla; sprinkle each serving with 1/4 cup cheese.

Broil an additional 2 minutes or until cheese melts. Repeat procedure with remaining tortillas, chicken mixture, and cheese. Top each serving with 2 Tbsp of remaining salsa and 3/4 tsp of remaining cilantro. Serve immediately.

The hubs and I both really liked these, and they were super easy to pull together! The day I made them, we each only ate one for lunch, so the following day we heated up the leftover toppings and made one each again. Next time I’ll definitely use corn as in the original recipe because I think that touch of sweetness will contrast well with the other flavors. I may also double it so we have extra toppings on hand and hubby can then make himself lunch with minimal instructions!

Photo credit: squash blossoms by purpletwinkies