Pulse Wednesday became Pulse Thursday, because I had to go to a canola science conference in Leduc. Leduc is not far, but by the time I got home, I was really tired and I just pretty much fell into a pile on my couch. I’ve been a little busier than normal lately, as I just have a lot going on. And I’ve got friends visiting all April! I went for high tea at the Hotel MacDonald with a bunch of friends this Sunday, and had some other friends over for a visit on Saturday. This weekend, the poet laureate of Sudbury (aka my friend Kim) is arriving, and then next Thursday, I’ll be picking up my friend Danica from the airport 🙂

Anyway, on to the recipes. I get a lot of recipes from food blogs emailed to me. I often have to dedicate some time to sorting through them. It’s easy to delete the things that I would never make. Anything that contains nuts other than peanuts gets an automatic delete. (I’m allergic).

But when this recipe came into my inbox, I knew that I had to make it. Everything about it appealed to me. It’s from a blog called www.shelikesfood.com

This recipe is also gluten-free. It’s hard to say how many tostadas it makes, because it all depends on the size of the tortillas that you buy. I managed to get 4 tostadas out of mine, but I still had leftover beans.

You need:

Corn tortillas or pre-baked tostada shells. (Here is something I didn’t know. Corn tortillas are actually white. For some reason, I thought they would have a yellow hue. Now you know)

1 large can re-fried black beans (I found this at Save-on. I’d never seen refried black beans in a store before, but I hadn’t been looking very hard. They do not sell them at No-frills)

1-2 large avocados, cut in half, seed removed and sliced

Strawberry Salsa
2 cups chopped strawberries
2/3 cup chopped white onion (I’m not a huge onion fan, so I probably used less)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro (could substitute parsley if cilantro tastes like soap to you)
Chopped jalapeno, to taste
Juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon maple syrup
Salt, to taste

Instructions:
1. If not using pre-baked tostadas, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lay corn tortillas on a large baking sheet and bake for 7 to 10 minutes, flipping once until crispy.

2. Add all the strawberry salsa ingredients to a medium sized bowl and mix until crispy. Refrigerate until needed.

3. Placed the re-fried beans in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until warmed. You can add a little water to the beans to thin them out, if you need. This is also good if you end up reheating them.

4. Assemble the tostadas by spreading a layer of black beans onto each tortilla and top with avocado slices and strawberry salsa. You can put salt on the avocado slices if you like. (I didn’t).

Holy crap! These are a taste sensation! I thought these were absolutely delicious and so interesting. They are perfect for spring/summer. I’m excited to make them for other people.

One note- I did try making them as a taco on my second night of eating and so I skipped the first step and did not crisp the tortilla. It’s not as good this way. The crunch of the baked tortilla/tostada really adds to this. Don’t make this into a soft taco because it’s not as good.

Oh, apparently new research has shown that eating pulses can help you lose weight and keep it off.

Add beans, lentils or chickpeas to your daily diet to lose weight: Canadian docs

I have lost a tiny amount of weight, but I’ve also been exercising more, doing portion control and cooking at home more, so the pulses are probably only a small part of that.