A friend of mine was losing her mind recently, because her kids are at that age where they’re ridiculously picky but also hungry all the time. She’s been trying to be better about making sure they eat their vegetables and avoids junk food as much as she can, and one of the best snacks she’s worked into her routine is quesadillas. You can make them as healthy as you like, and they’re so quick and cheap to prepare that it’s easy to work them into a menu a few times a week. These are three of her kids’ favourite filling ideas, and they’re great for adults too!
Making quesadillas is easy, all you need is a tortilla or two, some cheese, and filling ideas. To make a quesadilla, you heat a tortilla in a skillet, and top it with half your cheese; put your filling on top of the cheese once it melts and the tortilla crisps up a little bit, and then top with the rest of your cheese and another tortilla. Quickly flip the whole thing so that the other side melts as well, and then you’re ready to serve! If you’re not that hungry, you can use a single tortilla and just put fillings and cheese on half, so that you can fold it over.
BLT Quesadillas
Take whatever cheese you like, and sprinkle it on your tortilla—I like cheddar a lot, but any melting cheese works just fine. Sprinkle diced fresh or sun-dried tomato on top of the cheese, as well as some roughly chopped bacon. Sprinkle some pepper and whatever other spices you’d like (oregano works great), and then top with the remaining cheese and finish the quesadilla as outlined above.
Veggie Quesadillas
Sprinkle a thin layer of cheese on the bottom tortilla, and add some corn, salsa and kidney beans as your filling. Sprinkle some cilantro and pepper on top of the filling, and top with some more cheese and the second tortilla and finish as normal.
Spinach-Feta Quesadillas
For this quesadilla, use mozzarella cheese as the glue to hold everything together. Sautee some spinach and garlic very quickly, and add that on top of the cheese. Cube some feta to distribute evenly across the spinach mixture, before adding the rest of the mozzarella and the second tortilla. Finish the tortilla as usual.
