Fitness Friday :: Black Bean Quesadilla

Over the summer, I watched the movie Forks Over Knives.

And like every other person who watched that movie, I vowed to become a vegan. For about a week. Until I remembered two things:

1. I once was a vegan for 30 days, and I didn’t feel all that great.

2. Smoked Gouda. I love Smoked Gouda. If there is one thing that stands between me and veganism, it’s Smoked Gouda. (Which has absolutely nothing to do with this recipe, but it’s worth mentioning.)

But during that week of plant-based meal planning, I discovered this tasty recipe for Black Bean Quesadillas. It’s a rare day in the Cooper household when EVERYONE loves a new recipe and asks me to make it again. My usual dinner mantra to one or more complaining children is this, “Every night one of you is eating something you don’t love…this must be your night.”

But when I made these Black Bean Quesadillas, everyone devoured them and asked for seconds. Wonderful.

This was originally written as a vegan recipe with shredded, non-dairy cheese. But I do not find imitation cheese to be tasty. Plus, it’s so highly processed and tends to get runny as it melts.

As you can sorta see from the picture, I added real cheese (not Smoked Gouda, though).

 

Black Bean Quesadilla

Total Prep and Cooking Time: About 20 minutes (But this meal is sort of like pancakes or grilled cheese—plan on making only one or two at a time and standing at the stove tending to your quesadillas as they cook.)

Yeild: 4 Quesadillas

Nutrition info (without cheese): 285 Calories, 44g carb, 7g fat, 629g sodium, 6g fiber, 13g protein, low cholesterol, high in Vit A, Vit K, Folate, Phosphorus.

Ingredients:

• 1 or 2 cups cooked blacked beans (I use canned, but you can soak and cook your own)
• 1/3 cup salsa, as hot as you like
• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
• 2 cups chopped baby spinach
• 4 burrito-sized tortillas* (scroll down to read my rant about flour tortillas)
• 1 cup shredded cheese, any variety (optional)
• Salt to taste (recipe is bland without it)

Directions:

1. Mash the beans.
2. Stir in the salsa, cilantro and tomatoes
3. Put tortilla in a large, hot skillet over medium heat
4. Spread ½ cup of the bean mixture on half of the tortilla.
5. Sprinkle with spinach and optional cheese

 

6. Fold tortilla in half
7. Cook on both sides, until tortilla is brown and cheese is melted.

Serving Suggestions:

Serve with rice, a side salad or fresh fruit.

 

I whipped up a little Mexican-ish side salad from ingredients I had on hand for Jon and me.  Just toss all the ingredients together.  (not pictured, but so yummy!)

• Chopped Romaine
• Diced Roma Tomatoes
• Fresh corn, cooked and cut off the cob
• Chopped cilantro
• Chopped Spinach
• Diced avocado
• Fresh lime juice

*Now, may I please go on a rant about store-bought tortillas???? Kroger carries probably 10 varieties of tortillas. Every one of them is PACKED with chemical additives. Here are the ingredients in Mission Flour Tortillas:

Water, Modified Food Starch, Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Wheat Gluten, Powder Cellulose, Vegetable Shortening (Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil), Wheat Protein Isolate (Wheat Gluten, Lactic Acid, Sulfite), and Contains 2% or Less of: Salt, Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Aluminum Sulfate, Corn Starch, Monocalcium Phosphate, and/or Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Calcium Sulfate), Cellulose Gum, Calcium Propionate and Sorbic Acid (to Preserve Freshness), Distilled Monoglycerides, Wheat Starch, Amylase, Tricalcium Phosphate, Natural Flavor, Sunflower Oil, Sucralose, Canola Oil, Triglycerides, Dough Conditioners (Fumaric Acid, Sodium Metabisulfite and/or Mono- and Diglycerides).

Note the red words: Hydrogenated oils (trans fat), preservatives, Sucralose (Splenda). YUCK!

If you have access to a natural foods store—like Whole Foods–it’s worth the trip and the cost. Here’s the ingredients list of the Whole Foods 365 Brand Organic Flour Tortilla:

Organic white flour, water, organic expeller-pressed soy oil, sea salt, and aluminum-free baking powder.

For a short time, Costco carried a flour tortilla with the same short-list ingredients.

Oh Costco–where have the flour tortillas gone? The ones pictured are these:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disclosure:  That link up there to Forks Over Knives is an affiliate link.  If you purchase it from Amazon through that link, I will receive a small percentage of the sale.

 

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Linking up with  Jill Conyers today!