Black Bean Tostadas

Time is flying by, isn’t it?  We’re already well into March, and spring is definitely in the air given the amount of melting going on around here.  My cookbook manuscript and photographs are due on April 1st, so you can well imagine what I’ve been up to.  I’m almost done the recipes - just 10 left to shoot - and my testers are hard at work making sure everything is turning out the way it’s supposed to.  Let me tell you, having all these sweets in the house sounds pretty dreamy, and for the most part it is, but holy smokes, I’m having to run across the street with a dozen cream puffs for my neighbours, or calling up friends asking them to take away a cake.  I figure I’ll need a month of green smoothies to detox from the sugar and butter I’ve accumulated in my system over the past 7 months, but oh my, the treats coming out of my little green kitchen are impressive.  I made French honey crullers the other day, and oh lord, I swooned.  Needless to say, meals around here have to be relatively easy and healthy - I don’t have much energy to feed myself after a long day of baking, photographing and writing.  That’s where pulses come in - they are quick, tasty, economical and good for me.  Now if only someone could wash the dishes and give me back rubs…

For the Gardener: Chipotle Spiced Lamb & Kale Tostadas

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. ~ Margaret Atwood

You can't see me right now but I'm totally doing a little happy dance.  Well, little wiggles in my chair, but that still counts.  Nope, not drunk (though I did have the best mango margarita this afternoon), but insanely happy that I've officially started gardening.  I busted out the garden gloves and the trowels and got friendly with some dirt today.  It felt good.  After what seemed like the longest winter in the history of the universe, I never thought I'd be so happy to uproot dandelions.  Just watching earthworms slither along the freshly turned over soil made me smile.  I'm a total weirdo, but after the winter I've had, you'd do the same thing.  I'm also super happy to have my post-surgery strength back, which means I don't have to be so paranoid about lifting anything over 10 pounds.  (Um, my cats are fat over ten pounds so I can finally squish them to bits.  I think this pleases me more than them).  Being strong again means all I want to do is make my yard pretty.  Which kinda means less time is spent in the kitchen, so food has to be quick and dirty.  And that's why today we are talkin' tostadas.