king ranch chicken tostadas

King Ranch Chicken isn't something many Canadians are familiar with. When I read the title of this recipe I had to Google the term. What I learned is this is a casserole popular in Texas which includes chicken, tortilla chips, mushrooms, cans of creamed soup and Ro-Tel tomatoes. Yes, Ro-Tel tomatoes (seasoned canned tomatoes with chilies) aren't sold here in Canada, but I have several cans in my pantry from grocery trips to the USA and I was glad to find a way of using them when I stumbled upon King Ranch Chicken Tostadas in the May 2013 issue of Everyday Food Magazine.

Right now I'm very hooked on buying rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. It costs about the same as buying fresh chicken breasts only all the work is done for you! Honestly, it's such a bonus for us working parents (or anyone looking to make dinner prep a whole lot quicker). I know I constantly talk about using these chickens on this blog, but having the option for light or dark meat is something that really works for our family. So rotisserie chicken it was for this recipe. The only real prep is a quick sautee of onions, mushrooms and a can of Ro-Tel tomatoes. (Just a note - you can use a small can of tomatoes and a small can of green chilies in place of Ro-Tel if you aren't a frequent cross border shopper). From there it's assembly time. We used prepared tostada shells, layer of spicy tomato and mushroom mixture, layer of shredded chicken, layer of shredded romaine lettuce, sprinkling of shredded Monterey jack cheese and a dollop of plain low fat yogurt (we use this in place of sour cream since it's more versatile also working in our smoothies).

Because I have no previous experience with the casserole this recipe is inspired by as a flavour comparison - all I can judge is the end result, which was totally delicious! The photos just show one tostada, but I couldn't stop myself from wanting more... and ended up devouring three. My favourite element of this dinner as the contrast of every element (especially the cool lettuce and yogurt). It's so fresh and delicious. For the past two years, we've frequently eaten tostadas in the summer and I think this will be our new summer time go-to recipe.