My Southwest Quesadillas

My blog is still here?!?!

I am actually a little surprised I remembered the right password on the first try!

I know I've really dropped the ball on this whole blogging thing... and all both of my readers are probably gone now but I'm still attempting a come back. Maybe since I'm posting an awesome Quesadilla recipe I will be forgiven my long absence.

Just a quick update on where I've been and then on to the food.
The last 4 months of my life have been consumed by college.
I DO NOT remember it being this demanding.
It is a serious pain in my butt.
I'm such a masochist that I signed up for 2 summer classes.
Seriously, I need a mental evaluation.

On the weight loss front things have been okay.
Alright, alright they have been pretty slow lately.
I did however finish my very first 5K. In March.
How did I not blog about that? College.
Hopefully I will get a post about it up soon!

Anyway here's the food!

My version of a Southwest Quesadilla
Each one only had 552 calories and I used full fat cheese... which was amazeballz.
Mine had taco meat but you could easily omit that. 

Sour cream not included in calorie count

Below are most of the ingredients, not pictured are the tortillas and beef.  

You will need to drain and rinse the beans and corn.

First I browned my meat and drained it really well. I used 80/20 because I had it in the freezer but feel free to use lean ground beef or ground turkey. These would also be wonderful with fajita beef or chicken!

After draining the beef I added some taco spices. I make my own taco seasoning which is mostly cumin.
For this I mixed:
3 teaspoons cumin
1.5 teaspoons garlic pepper (found at Sam's)
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Obviously I taste as I go and add more of each depending on the flavor I'm looking for. Once you add the spices let them toast for about 30 seconds to develop the flavors a bit more.

Next I sauteed my mushrooms in 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Once they release their juices and look like this you are good to go!

Transfer the mushrooms back to their bowl and saute the garlic in 1 tablespoon olive oil for 30 seconds.

Be aware garlic burns very easily so watch the clock!

Next you will add the spinach and cook it until it has wilted.

Before...

And after. This is also a great way to prepare spinach as a side.

Before assembling the quesadillas you will need to mix 1 cup of the corn, 1 cup of the beans, and 2 cups of the meat together.

Also separate the spinach and mushrooms into 4 equal servings.

Dividing it into fourths makes it easier once the cooking process has started.

 

After moving everything close to the stove, heat a large cast iron pan or griddle over medium high heat.
Spray with a good amount of cooking spray and coat each side of a 10 inch tortilla.
Let the first side brown keeping a close eye on it.
After flipping it spread 1/2 cup of the cheese mixture over the whole tortilla.
Then sprinkle 1/4 cup of the meat mixture, 1/4 of the mushrooms and 1/4 of the spinach over one half of the tortilla.

Almost there!

Once the cheese has had time to melt fold the tortilla over to make a half moon shape.

Yum!

There is no need to flip since you let the cheese melt while it was laying flat. Which means you don't loose your filling.
Continue this process until you have 4 finished Quesadillas. 

Move to a plate and slice into fourths!

Enjoy with sour cream, jalapenos, rice, beans, guacamole etc.... Or a big margarita!!!

Southwest Quesadillas

Ingredients:
1lb lean ground beef
taco seasoning (see above for my recipe)
2 ounces pepper jack cheese, shredded
4 ounces monterey jack cheese, shredded
2 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
3 cups fresh spinach
4 cloves garlic minced (I use a grater to mince it)
8 ounces mushrooms
4 10 inch tortillas
1 cup corn
1 cup black beans
2 tablespoons olive oil
cooking spray

Remember I used full fat cheese, if you are looking for a place to cut calories start there. Also there was enough of the meat mixture leftover to make 4 more quesadillas with just meat and cheese which tasted great. If you don't want to make 8 total, half the amount of meat you use or double the spinach and mushrooms to make 8 of the original recipe.

Enjoy!