We live in Texas and here in Texas we are lucky to have lots of diverse culinary influences. We have Cajun cooking to our east from Lousiana, Southwestern cooking to our west from New Mexico and to our south we have delish Mexican cooking from Mexico. In our house, we embrace the Mexican influence! Mexican food can be so simple and versitle, and I ‘m pretty sure not a week goes by without a taco or quesadilla or two. Now, tacos are really yummy and super easy, but because all my meals are pretty much always fed to kids, and I am sure that any parent will agree that kids are the Worst taco eaters! More of the filling ends up on their plate, clothes or floor (which my dog Lucy doesn’t really mind) than in their mouths. So for that reason, in my house the Quesadilla is King (or Qing). A Quesadilla consists of anything with a little cheese between two tortillas. It’s basically a tortilla sandwich, and like a sandwich (something else I love) you can put really anything in them; apple sauce and cheddar, chicken and cheese, eggs, potatoes and cheese, even hummus and veggies (which is sans cheese, so maybe these should be called a hummusdilla). Quesadillas also decrease the kid-messy factor, because of the melty cheese the quesadillas stick together, don’t flop open and spill out like tacos.
This is a quick and simple, meatless quesadilla you can throw together with whatever veggies you have in your refrigerator. Really, anything goes, so get creative!
Ok, I started with some of my fav veggies, I have mushrooms, green peppers, yellow squash, onion, and garlic. I tossed them in a large skillet with some olive oil and spices (cumin, coriander, cinnamon, salt, and pepper), can green chilis and cook them down a bit.
I add a splash of Chicken broth because I think it intensifies flavors and brings them all together. You can also use vegetable broth for a vegan or vegetarian meal.
After the vegetables are cooked down and tender, add 2-3cups of fresh baby spinach and 2 cups of fresh cherry tomatos
Stir, the heat will quickly wilt the spinach and soften the tomotoes. The ultimate goal is that the tomoatoes get soft enough that they pop and because I am not very patient I actually help them a bit with the back of my spoon when they get soft enough.
While the spinach is wilting and the tomatoes are poping, add 1 1/2 cup of black beans (1 can) and stir to combine. This step can be skipped if you don’t love the magical fruit or just want veggies.
Next, I roughly chop some fresh cilantro.
Stir it in after everything is fully cooked, and heat is off or on low. Cooking dulls the flavors of fresh cilantro.
This is the final product that is ready to be spooned in the tortillas.
I placed 6 corn torillas on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat. Spooned about 1/4-1/2cup (eye-ball it, whatever fits) of vegetable mixture on each tortilla. Then placed a pinch of cheese on each one, (looks from the pictures I may have gone a little heavy-handed with the cheese) and top them with a second tortillla.
And into the oven they go at 400degrees for 20-30min
They will come out delicious and crispy like this! Yum. I could have left these in the oven a little longer to make them even crispier, but we were hungry. (Corn tortillas take a little longer to crisp up then flour tortillas will)
Caution, some of the filling will smoosh out with you cut them, so I only cut them once to limit smooshage.
Enjoy!
- ½lb of sliced mushrooms
- 2 small Yellow Squashes, (any squash works)
- 2 bell peppers, diced ( any color will do)
- 1 cup (rounded) onions, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, diced
- 2-3 handfuls of fresh Baby Spinach
- 2 cups of cherry tomatoes
- ¼-1/2cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
- 1½cup cooked black beans, (1 can)
- 2 Tbsp chicken or vegetable broth (a splash)
- 1 can (4oz) green chilis
- 1 tsp cumin (rounded)
- 1 tsp coriander (rounded)
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- Pinch of coarse Sea Salt
- Fresh Ground Pepper
- 12 corn tortillas (GF) or flour tortillas
- Place olive oil and all the veggies into a large skillet over medium-high heat. Toss in skillet to cook evenly. Add a splash of broth.
- Once vegetables are cooked down and tender(10ishmin), add spinach, tomatoes and black beans. Stir to combine. Cook for additional 10 minutes to allow tomatoes to pop (can assist them with a spoon) and spinach to wilt.
- Meanwhile, roughly chop cilantro. Once Spinach is wilted, and tomatoes are soft, turn the heat off and add the cilantro.
- Place tortillas on a lined baking dish. Spoon mixture onto tortilla, top with cheese then second tortilla.
- Bake in 400degree oven for 20ish minutes until the tortilla is crispy and cheese is melty.
- Cut in half or quarters and Enjoy!
