Ola Monday!

I’ve posted about my love of Mexican food.  Tonight, I share with you a quick and easy Mexican inspired Quesadilla.  Again, I love this recipe because the sky’s the limit when it comes to the many ways it can be prepared.

Here’s how it went down…

Simple Black Bean Quesadilla

I love guacamole as a garnish for everything Mexican.  So I started by whipping up a quick guacamole.  Some ripe avocados, a half of a juiced lime and some salt does a guacamole good.  I mashed it together with a fork.

Then I took some black beans and a little bit of store bought salsa and combined them.  Because I’m feeding a toddler, I mashed the beans and salsa together so they will stick together in the quesadilla, but the beans can be left whole and just mixed with the salsa, too.

I used the Ezekial flat bread.  Ezekiel bread is a sprouted grain bread.  You can read more about the health benefits of sprouted grain breads here.

I took one flat bread and spread my black bean mixture over it.  Then put a layer of guacamole over top.  Then put another flat bread on top.

This is where the recipe can get interesting…

– Make your own fresh salsa to use in this recipe… store bought is great in a pinch, but there are some really tasty and easy salsa recipes out there

– Add a layer of thinly sliced tomatoes on the black beans

– Add corn, red peppers (raw or roasted), sun dried tomatoes, shredded lettuce, jalapeño peppers, black olives or a combination of these

– Add hot sauce or salsa verde

– It’s nice that this is a great recipe that is diary free, but traditionally sour cream or a sprinkle of cheese can be added

– Rachel Ray has a variation where she does another layer of beans on top of the top flat bread, then another flat bread… so she layers the quesadilla with 3 or 4 layers and each layer she puts a different ingredient with the beans

… like I said, the sky is the limit!

Then I added a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and on high heat I browned the two sides of the quesadilla.

Mmmm… this was so delicious!  Flavorful.  Comforting.  A great source of fiber.

I served this with the guacamole and salsa as garnish… however our sides for the night also included a fresh green salad with julienne carrots and a broccoli and cauliflower medley.

I made a couple extra quesadillas as leftovers for our lunch tomorrow!  Tonight’s dinner and tomorrow’s lunch, done and done!

Enjoy!