Quesadillas
Any meal that, by its very name, includes cheese has to be pretty awesome in my book. Like some of my other fromage favourites – fondue, mac ‘n’ cheese and croque monsieur – quesadillas have cheese as their key ingredient, and they are one of my favourite easy dinner items. You can have them on the table in less than 20 minutes and I’m yet to meet a kid who doesn’t like them.
Recipe
- 2 tins refried beans (or a tin of drained kidney beans, mashed roughly with a potato masher and mixed with a sachet of taco seasoning or a couple of dessertspoons of your snazzy all-purpose spice mix from last week)
- 1 tin crushed tomatoes
- Tortillas
- Grated cheese
- Any vegie fillings you want – sliced tomato, sliced capsicum, grated zucchini, baby spinach, corn, coriander
Easy guacamole
- Avocado
- Lemon or lime juice
- Sweet chilli sauce
Pour the beans and tomatoes (and spices if using) into a frypan with a splash of oil, simmer until it is all warmed through and fairly thick, then set aside.
Heat up a clean fry pan over a medium heat while you start to make up the quesadillas. Spread the bean mix thinly and evenly on a tortilla and top with whatever fillings you are using. Like homemade pizzas, kids love adding their own toppings and it’s a great way to get them to eat more vegetables. Letting kids loose in the kitchen does mean more cleaning up though! You want the quesadilla to remain fairly flat so you don’t need much topping for each one.
Sprinkle grated cheese over the toppings, pop another tortilla on top and squash it down until it is glued together by the beans and cheese.
Spray your pan with oil and gently place the quesadilla in the pan. Cook for a couple of minutes, carefully flip it and cook until both sides are coloured, and the cheese has melted. Press it down a bit with your spatula occasionally to keep it flat and pancake-y.
You can only make one at a time (unless you are willing to dirty multiple frypans which I never am!) so keep the prepared quesadillas in a warm oven until they are all ready to serve. Or do what I do and stand around in the kitchen and eat them hand them out to the kids, as they come out of the pan!
Serve sliced into wedges with guacamole.
Easy guacamole
Mash avocadoes with a fork, squeeze in some lemon or lime juice, pour in a bit of sweet chilli sauce to taste. Mix.
3 out of three 