Friday, August 1, 2008

Knock it off Napoleon! Make yourself a dang quesadilla!


Quesadillas are another dish that I would make fairly often when I was living alone and didn't have the mad cooking skills that I have now (Besides, guys only want wives that have great skills.) (/Napoleon Dynamite references) These are much nicer than the ones I used to make which mostly consisted of cheese, green bell pepper, and canned green chiles. My grocery store in Houston had its own tortilleria and carried real Mexican cheeses. Oh, the days of living in a city with ethnic food, not that there's anything wrong with meat-n-threes.

I got this recipe from KC720 at Tiny Kitchen Cooking, and they turned out great. Flipping the quesadilla was a little involved, but I somehow managed to do it without flinging black beans all over the kitchen. I served them with reduced fat sour cream, Chipotle salsa (not pictured), and sliced avocado.

Black Bean Quesadillas

Ingredients:

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
about 2 tbsp chopped red onion
(1/2 green bell pepper chopped)
1-2 cups shredded pepperjack cheese (I used quesadilla cheese.)
a couple of handfuls of baby spinach
chili pepper (I used cayenne)
juice of 1/2 lime
(ground cumin)
4 whole wheat tortillas
oil/cooking spray

Directions:
Heat a skillet w/a little oil on medium heat (anything with a larger diameter than your tortillas - a double griddle so that you can do two at a time would be even better!).

Mix black beans and red onion with chili powder and cumin (season to taste) and the juice of 1/2 a lime. Lay one tortilla out on a flat surface. Sprinkle 1/4 of the cheese on the tortilla, covering most of its surface. Layer 1/2 of the black beans over the cheese. Spread a few spinach leaves on top of the black beans and top with another 1/4 of the cheese. Place another tortilla on top. Repeat this process with the rest of the cheese, black beans, spinach, and the other tortillas. Cook the quesadillas for 3-4 minutes on each side until the tortillas are brown and crispy and the cheese in melted. Flip carefully! (I did this over the sink just in case.) Move to cutting board and cut into 4 wedges. Enjoy!

Thanks Tiny Kitchen Cooking for gussying up my normal quesadillas! Oh, and Joe took the picture. Didn't he do a good job?

5 comments:

KC720 said...

I'm so glad you liked them! :)

Liz said...

I love quesadillas! Nice job on the presentation and photo! :)

jennifer said...

Yummy! I think I'll make those tonight!

Lisa said...

LOL at your post title! My husband says that all the time when I mention having quesadillas for dinner. Looks like they turned out great!

Anonymous said...

I love making quesadillas and will have to try this version. I use my non-stick omelet/crepe pan and it makes flipping very easy. Also, try slicing with a pizza cutter (one of those wheelie things).