Foodie Friday: Warm Corn and Bean Tostadas

 Photo courtesy of: Michelle Loy. Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.

I adapted this recipe from one of my favorite foodie celebs, Rachael Ray.  I spied an all grilling Everyday With Rachael Ray magazine in May, and I just had to have it.  Grilling is one of my favorite ways to cook.  I love the fact that this is a colorful, tasty, and easy vegetarian option.  I'm all about cooking with ease.  You can accumulate about half of your daily recommended fiber needs along with a host of other key nutrients from one serving alone! Enjoy!

Warm Corn and Bean Tostadas
Adapted from: Rachael Ray, May 2010
Ingredients
3 cups frozen corn
Vegetable oil, for drizzling
Ancho chili powder or traditional chili powder
Salt and pepper
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1 cup of 2% evaporated milk (you could also use whole milk or half and half)
1 tsp chipotle adobo sauce (if you like heat, you may want to use an actual chile, seeded and chopped)
1 can (15 oz) low-fat vegetarian refried beans (preferably light sodium, like Amy's Organic Refried Black Beans)
4 cups shredded romaine lettuce for topping
2 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped for topping
1 small red onion, finely chopped for topping
1/4 cup or large handful of chopped cilantro for topping
1 cup 2% milk shredded Monterey Jack cheese for topping
8, 6-inch corn tortillas

Directions:
1.  Preheat a grill or broiler to high, placing a rack on the second level.
2.  In a medium saucepan, drizzle corn with oil and sprinkle with chili powder and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Cook on medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until heated through.  Toss with lime juice. 
3.  In a small saucepan, combine the evaporated milk, adobo sauce, and lime zest over medium heat and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer until slightly reduced.
4.  Combine the refried beans and 1/4 cup of water in another small saucepan over medium-low heat until heated through. 
5.  Grill or broil the tortillas briefly, just to heat.  Remove from grill or broiler.  Top each tortilla with refried beans, cheese, corn, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, and cilantro.  Drizzle with chipotle sauce.  Serve 2 tostadas per person. 

Serves: 4
Nutritional Information:
Calories: 497   Carbohydrate: 71 g   Fat:  14 g   Saturated fat:  5 g   Monounsaturated fat:  2 g   Protein: 21 g   Cholesterol:  22 mg   Fiber:  12.5 g   Sugar: 10.5 g   *Sodium: 562 mg
High in:  thiamin, riboflavin, folate, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin A, calcium, magnesium, and zinc.
*If you would like to reduce the sodium content further, you can use no salt refried beans, use reduced sodium black or pinto beans (drained, rinsed) and mashed, or make your own refried beans to control sodium content.