Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Tostadas

I feel like it was just summer, but here we are nearing Thanksgiving and dealing with darkness at 5 PM. In some ways I like that it gets dark early because my nights feel longer (and my Kindergarten kid feels like she is staying up "really, really late!!!" although she catches on after a few days... ). I also tend to go to bed a bit earlier this time of year, which is always a good thing. But if I have to drive at night, forget it. I hate driving in the dark (part of that may be because I could probably use glasses for night driving but I just haven't gotten them yet. Getting old is tough!). 

I usually turn to comfort food this time of year - creamy dishes, casseroles, soups, and stews. But eating like that just isn't good for my waistline (another problem with this whole getting older thing). So I'm changing things up and sticking to lighter meals and less carbs and sugar. A big perk to this recipe is that it makes it feel like spring or summer. 
I stumbled across this recipe by Cooking Light when looking for ideas for grilled chicken. Yes, you can grill even if it is dark. Just put on an outside light or get one of those clip on lights made specifically for grilling at night. We will (I mean, my husband will) grill year round as long as it isn't the middle of a blizzard and we can't get to the grill. 

 I liked that the tortillas were crisped in the oven, and not fried. I used that as my inspiration for this dinner, and changed up the ingredients and directions, including marinating and grilling my chicken. We all loved these and were able to personalize them, using ingredients we all liked from the pile of veggies that we grilled. The tortillas were very crispy and we were able to pick them up to eat like a tostada or pizza. 


Grilled Chicken and Vegetable TostadasInspired by: Cooking Light
Ingredients

• 1 lb of chicken (I used boneless breasts - use what you like)
• Marinade: 1/2 c olive oil, 1/4 tsp cider vinegar, 1/2 tsp cumin and chili powder, 2 cloves crushed garlic, handful of cilantro, juice from 1/2 of a lime, zest from 1/2 of a lime. 
• 1/2 of a red onion sliced into rings
• 1/2 each green and red pepper sliced into large pieces (if there are 4 "sides" to your pepper, cut off 2 of them)
• 1 sm zucchini, halved lengthwise
• 1 sm yellow squash, halved lengthwise
• 8-10 grape or cherry tomatoes on a skewer
• Olive oil spray, salt and pepper
• 1 c Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
• 6 sm flour tortillas
• Fresh cilantro, chopped
• Optional: sour cream, for serving

Directions

• Mix all of the marinade ingredients except the lime juice and zest. Pour over the chicken in a shallow bowl; cover and marinate in the fridge 8 hours to overnight. 1 hour before cooking, add the lime juice and zest. 
• Spray all of your veggies with olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper
• Heat your grill and grill the chicken until it reaches 160 degrees; let rest 5-10 minutes and then chop into bite sized pieces. 
• Grill your veggies for a few minutes until very lightly charred; chop them into bite sized pieces.
• Turn on the broiler in your oven. Spray the tortillas with olive oil spray and place on a cookie sheet under the broiler for 2 minutes. Flip and broil another 1-2 minutes.
• Remove the tortillas from the oven and top with the chicken, veggies, and then cheese.
• Return them to the oven under the broiler until the cheese has melted.
• Top with fresh cilantro.