Tostadas for Our Lady of Guadalupe/St. Juan Diego

The dates of December 9th and December 12th are pretty special for my family. The ninth is the feast of St. Juan Diego, who my son proclaimed was his patron saint when he was only two years old. The twelfth is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is the title we give to Mary as she appeared to St. Juan Diego. Our Lady of Guadalupe converted the nation of Mexico, and I am half Mexican, (with a few other things thrown in there) on my mother's side, so that has special significance in that way as well.  My grandfather can trace our ancestry back to native Mexican civilizations, so I like to think that somewhere in history, my family came into the Catholic Church by hearing the story of St. Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Since the two feast days are so close together, we cook Mexican food on whichever day happens to work best for our family that year. This year I had work conflicts on both the 9th and the 12th, so we had our special dinner yesterday, inbetween the two!

This year we made tostadas. They are special, but still easy enough to pull off on a weeknight. Think of it like taco night kicked up a notch. Tostadas are a fried tortilla shell topped with all sorts of goodies like beans, guacamole, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. For a side we sliced up some jicama, lemons, and limes. Jicama is a Mexican root vegetable that tates kind of like a cross between an apple and a potato. Our favorite way to eat it is simple: sliced raw with a squeeze of lemon or lime juice and a sprinkle of salt. We also made some Mexican hot chocolate, my son's favorite part of the meal! Mexican chocolate disks are normally pretty easy to find in the Mexican section of your grocery store. To make the hot chocolate all you do is melt the chocolate into some milk on the stove, and whisk it until frothy! The Our Lady of Guadalupe candle in the picture we also got in the Mexican food section of our local grocery store, there is even a prayer on the back!

Tostadas
ingredients:

For the shells:
Flour and/or corn tortillas
vegetable oil

For topping:
-refried beans (Do I know how to make my own from scratch? Yes. But sometimes a working mom needs to take a shortcut; this time I used beans from a can!)
-guacamole - mine was simple: avacadoes smashed with some salt and lime juice
-taco meat (optional) - we simply browned some hamuburger seasoned with chilli poweder, garlic powder, cayenne, salt and pepper
-shredded cheese
-tomatoes
-lettuce
-sour cream
-hot sauce
-lemons and limes for squeezing juice over the top

Fill a frying pan with oil and heat until ready for frying. (I usually tear off a small piece of tortilla to test the oil.) Using tongs, gently place the tortilla in the oil.

Fry the tortilla until one side is golden brown and crispy. Flip the tortilla and repeat on the other side. When frying the tortilla will puff up, this is normal, don't worry! Its also pretty fun.

Set the finished tortillas on a plate line with paper towels.

Top it with whatever you like, but the refried beans are always first. And remember, this is a dish you pick up and eat with your hands. If you don't make a mess, you're not doing it right!

Though this can be a meal all by itself, here are some suggestions of things you could serve along side them:
Jicama with lemons and/or limes and salt
Mexican hot chocolate
Horchata (a Mexican rice and cinnamon drink )
My great grandmother's arroz con pollo (chicken with rice)  which can be found on this blog!

To learn more about St. Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe, click here. 

 This post is linked up at the Catholic Bloggers Network monthly link up blitz and the Equipping Catholic Families 2014 Saints Linkup! Check it out!