Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Meal/Snack/Dessert Quesadillas

Good afternoon! Munchkie and I are finally relaxing after a morning at the Portland Children's Museum. What a neat place to take little kids. Munchkie loved exploring all of the different exhibits but I think she'll enjoy the museum even more once she's older and taller! After the museum, we enjoyed a nice lunch with Brant at Cafe Yumm before heading home. And now here I am writing this post! I'm really excited about sharing these quesadilla recipes with you all.

For the past few months, I've been making many different types of quesadillas for Claire and myself, both sweet and savory. I started with hummus, mashed avocado, and non-dairy cheese quesadillas and then also mashed ripe banana and almond butter quesadillas. Claire absolutely loves these! I realized that I could potentially sneak a lot of veggies into these, so sometimes I would blend peas with her avocado and then spread that on the tortilla. Recently, I've been eating a lot of peanut butter-banana-sliced apple-agave nectar quesadillas too- they remind me of dessert crepes but much easier to make and healthier! I started thinking about all of the variations for these quesadillas and got really excited!

Before I list all of the variations, I need to talk to you about the tortillas first- this is very important! I use Ezekial Sprouted Grain tortillas. I get them at Fred Meyer in the natural food freezer section and they cost about $2.69 a pack- not bad! I've also seen them at Trader Joes and Whole Foods. What I love about these tortillas is 1) Made from sprouted grains which are easier to digest 2) Very few ingredients and no additives or preservatives. Check out this ingredient list:



                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Now compare the ingredients in Ezekial tortillas to the ingredient list in regular Mission flour tortillas:

Ingredients: Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron,Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Vegetable Shortening (Interesterified Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil and/or Palm Oil), Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Aluminum Sulfate, Corn Starch, Monocalcium Phosphate, and/or Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Calcium Sulfate), Salt, and contains 2% or less of: Preservatives (Calcium Propionate, Sorbic Acid and/or Citric Acid), Dough Conditioners (Fumaric Acid, Sodium Metabisulfite and/or Mono- and Diglycerides).

                                                                                                               
Ok, well I don't know about you, but I'd much rather have the ingredients from Ezekial tortillas in my body. Now, if you decide to try these tortillas, you may not be crazy about them at first, but trust me they grow on you, especially since they are so healthy! And like I said before, they are absolutely delicious when used for these quesadillas. So without further ado, here is my favorite quesadilla recipe so far and the variations I would like to try:

Peanut Butter-Banana Quesadillas

-1 Ezekial tortilla
-2 tbsp peanut butter (I use Adams)
-Mashed ripe banana
-Cinnamon, to taste (optional)
-Agave nectar/honey, to taste (optional)

Heat non-stick pan over medium heat. Mash your ripe banana (the riper the banana, the sweeter the quesadilla will be!) well and then spread on one half of the quesadilla. Spread your peanut butter on the other half. Sprinkle with cinnamon and drizzle with honey or agave if you desire. Place tortilla flat on pan and cook for a few minutes. After a few minutes, fold one side of the tortilla over. Flip to the other side after a couple minutes, and cook for a few minutes more. I like some light brown spots on my quesadilla and for the tortilla to have a little crunch to it. Cut like a quesadilla and serve!


 Like I said before, Munchkie loves these...and so does Odie, although he likes pretty much everything I make :)




Ok, and finally, the variations:

-Nutella or vegan alternative with any type of fruit- banana, strawberry, thinly sliced apple or pear, coconut
-Any nut butter such as cashew, almond, walnut, macademia nut butter, sunflower seed butter with mashed banana
-Peanut butter, mashed banana and thinly sliced apple or pear (my favorite!
-Nut butter and jam
-Hummus and mashed avocado with or without the peas blended in
-Hummus and either dairy or non-dairy cheese
-Refried beans and either dairy or non-dairy cheese
-Plain cheese, obviously

You get the picture, I could keep going, but I won't- there's lots of possibilities. Anyway, that's all for now- have a great night!

    

1 comment:

  1. Claire's food-spotted, contented expression says it all! (And it looks like Odie wouldn't mind a snitch either!)

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