Tonight, in advance of this weekend’s Sushi Night (to celebrate the cherry blossoms, you see), LeeLee and I ventured to the West End of Alexandria in order to visit our favorite international grocery store, the much-beloved Grand Mart – which, we were surprised to see, has been rebranded “New Grand Mart” since our last visit. Sushi rice, inari wrappers, nori, veggie dumplings, and Japanese desserts were at the top of our shopping list, but we also needed something to make for dinner and figured why not enjoy some one-stop shopping – and some fun international cuisine while we were at it!
That’s how we ended up with a package of tostada shells, a can of mayocoba refried beans, and a new spicy salsa in our cart along with our Japanese cuisine. Paired up with some veggie beef crumbles and yellow rice from home, we had a feast coming down the tracks!
When we got home and unloaded everything into the fridge, freezer, and pantry, I put on a cup of rice (with Goya seasoning added for color and taste) in the rice cooker and then began to sautee the veggie crumbles (seasoned with adobo seasoning) at a medium heat. I confess I was too lazy to heat up the refried beans the appropriate way on the stove, so instead I just warmed them in the microwave once the rice was nearly finished! As everything cooked, I prepared some lettuce and halved some cherry tomatoes, then chopped some parsley (we were out of cilantro) and opened a can of sliced black olives. Lo and behold, we also had an unopened bag of Daiya cheddar cheese in the fridge, so I added it to the table for garnish.
Once the rice was ready, it was time to dress up our tostadas! On each shell we added a hearty helping of beans (this was our first time enjoying mayocoba beans – we loved them!), then a good amount of crumbles, and then all of our veggies and cheese and salsa and hot sauce. :) Several spoonfuls of rice rounded out the meal, which we devoured with gusto. So much gusto, in fact, that we have no leftovers to show for it, but that’s OK. Sandwiches will have to suffice for tomorrow’s lunch instead!
:)