House of Bren: Mexican Shredded Beef Tostada Recipe

I’d be totally remiss for not including Mexico in this annual {All Around Latin America} roundup, right? You’d think I was crazy and not really in tune with Latin culture and food. I kind of waited until the last two days to feature it, kind of intentionally. Next to my own Cuban food (in general, not just what comes out of my kitchen), Mexican food is my 2nd most beloved Latin cuisine. There’s organic beauty in Mexico’s culinary history. Full of rich history and robust ingredients, it simply makes me one happy woman. I go all in, exploring all kinds of street foods and run down carts when I’m there. And I’m always finding something new.

Needless to say, most of my Latin food-blogging friends are Mexican or Mexican-American. Through them, I’ve come to become an all out lush-in-love with the foods these gals (and few guys) come up with. I swear I think they make some of these dishes share. For today, I welcome a relatively new blogging friend, Lynda, whom I met last year through a social media conference. She covers more than food, but her passion and connection to her mother’s heritage, really impressed me. She loves cooking and teaching her own kids about their abuelita’s kitchen. And to be perfectly honest… in a super shameful way…my first memory of having tostadas was at Taco Bell. Real talk. Cray, but so shamefully true! Surely, this is better. Way.

Hello to Lynda from This Mama Can Cook!

photo FEHHMbadebloggers_zps4d88c7c4.png

By Lynda Thorn

Hola! I’m thankful to Bren for inviting me to share one of my favorite Latin recipes with y’all! Growing up in Texas, I was exposed to lots of delicious Mexican food. My mother is Mexican-American, and she was always cooking up something delicioso en la cocina. I loved when she would make Gorditas, that was always a special treat. Another of my favorites, was when she’d prepare Tripas for me. I was the only one in the family, besides her, that would eat them. (I didn’t mind, that meant more for me!)

One of the first things I learned to make was Tostadas, although being from Texas, we called them Chalupas! Either way, no matter what you call them, they’re terrific! I learned to make them when I was fairly young. Back then, we’d use ground beef. Nowadays, I prepare them with shredded beef or chicken. I’m going to share my recipe for Ground Shredded Beef Tostadas with you all today. If you’re like me, you always have some refried beans on hand, so I really don’t need to tell you how to make those. I’ll just stick to the Shredded Beef, hope that’s okay with everyone!

My kids love shredded beef tostadas, and it’s important to me that they are exposed to foods from Latin America. I’m biracial, and I’m glad my Mom imparted in me a love of all things Latin. I want to do the same for my multicultural children.

I’m proud of my Latin heritage, and hopefully one day my kids will pass on these recipes to their children.

Shredded Beef Tostada

*This is part of an annual Hispanic Heritage Month food series, now in its 3rd year. Catch up on this years and previous delicious features:

^{{ALL AROUND LATIN AMERICA} Food Series}

How do you celebrate this culturally inspiring month?

* Images c/o of This Mama Can Cook

Eat well, love unapologetically, pray with true intention, and take care of yourself.

Follow the sexy & delicious fun on

TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | GOOGLE+ |YOUTUBE

Don't forget to check out my debut cookbook!

Enjoy

SHREDDED BEEF TACOS

Ingredients:

3 lbs Chuck Roast
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large white onion, chopped up
4-6 oz tomato sauce
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/4 cup lime juice
4 cloves garlic
4 cups water

Method:

Place all ingredients into a crock pot. Cook on Low heat for 8-9 hours. Once meat is cooked, remove from crockpot & allow to cool. Once cooled, take 2 forks and shred the meat, (that’s the fun part!).

Once the meat has been shredded, it’s time to get your garnishes ready. I use refried beans, shredded lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese, diced tomatoes, sour cream, and guacamole.

Get your corn tortillas ready. You are going to place one corn tortilla (at a time) into a pan with hot oil. Don’t go overboard with the oil, you just need enough to cover the tortilla. The hot oil will fry the tortilla and make it hard. Once the tortilla is hard, remove it from the oil. Place a thin (or not so thin, it’s up to you) layer of refried beans on the tortilla. Next, put some of the shredded beef mixture on top of the beans. Top the beans with cheese, then add the lettuce, guacamole, sour cream & tomatoes… in that order.

I tend to go overboard with my toppings, as you can see in my photos, just use as much or as little as you like. I like to eat my Tostadas with Spanish Rice y mas frijoles! Enjoy your tostadas! Gracias!