Monday, January 11, 2010

Feels like July! ...go with it...

Feeling tired of winter? Need a summery dinner that's totally doable even if it's freezing outside? (Or, like, 55 if you live in Cali. Sorry Parallel, love.) Let me introduce you to Black Bean Quesadillas. Easy, colorful, and healthy...which pretty much makes summer food for me.

I took a Cooking Light recipe and changed it up a bit to make it gluten free and a bit spicier. Always chancy. Even though it's been a long time and the hubby is a super good sport about my alterations, I'm still always hesitant that it may not taste quite right. Especially when I change out flour tortillas for corn...depending on the recipe, it can change the flavor a lot. But Hubby had no complaints. He liked it a ton, actually. Yay.

Black Bean Quesadillas
Corn Tortillas
Shredded Mexican cheese
Cooking spray
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 can whole black beans, drained
2 cups frozen corn
1 red bell pepper, chopped
About 5 cloves garlic, chopped and divided
2 large handfuls chopped cilantro, divided
Hot sauce (Like tapatio)
Juice from a lime (plus more to taste)
Couple stalks green onion, chopped

In sauce pan, saute half the garlic with a bit of cooking spray for about a minute. Add tomatoes, half the cilantro, and a squeeze of lime juice. If you want it a bit hotter, throw in some roasted green chilies, too. Cook about 5 minutes.

Take tortilla and add about a 1/4 cup bean mixture to one side. Sprinkle with a couple tablespoons of cheese, fold other half of tortilla over (Or just keep them flat and use a second one on top, depending on how big you want them). Broil, cook on stove top, or on a griddle about 3 minutes, or until cheese is melted and they start to brown.

In the meantime, combine remaining garlic, bell pepper, corn, and lime juice in a spray-coated medium sauce pan over medium high heat. Let cook a couple minutes til corn is hot. Add green onion and remaining cilantro, toss well. Add hot sauce to taste. Serve with the quesadillas.

The original Cooking Light recipe calls for more olive oil and flour tortillas, but I also added more corn, so adjusted this is roughly 400 cals, 11g fiber, 18g protein.

Serve with sour cream, avocado, regular salsa, whatever. This is a fun one to play with.

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