Butternut Squash and Black Bean Quesadillas

I can’t even tell you how good these were!!! OMG!! They started out as a way to use of leftovers, and WOW! Did they rock my world! I know- way to many exclamation points, I promise I’m not yelling at you, but these were so fabulously delicious that I actually made them 3, yes, THREE, days in a row.  I cannot tell you how monumental that is for me.  My Boy has been known to make the statement, once or twice, or a thousand times, “Mom, you just can’t make the same thing twice can you?” Well, Son, I can, and I occasionally do, but life is too short to eat the same foods over and over, so I like to try different things all the time.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I certainly make some things on a regular basis.  Spaghetti, chili, tacos, enchiladas, tuna, chicken & dumplings- but I don’t always make them the same way and I certainly don’t make them every week or even every month.  So these little babies started because I didn’t exactly plan dinner, but I did have some leftover BBQ ribs and I remembered a restaurant from years ago that use to offer a ribs and fajita combo.  It was one of Hubs favorites.  So I thought well, if you can do ribs and fajitas, why not ribs and quesadillas?? I had some leftover roasted butternut squash from the previous dinner and some leftover chicken from fajitas I had made a few nights ago, so what else can we pull from the pantry??  And they were so good I hardly ate any ribs, and made them for lunch for the next 2 days.  That’s unheard of in this house.  But I have probably peaked on these and they will be regulated to the, “remember when you made the… fill in the blank… think you could make those again” kind of recipe.   So I thought I better share.

This isn’t so much a recipe; I wasn’t able to list it in typical recipe fashion with amounts since the size of your tortilla will really determine how much you use. So let’s make this lovely yummy!

See I told you it was leftovers. You are going to start by just simply layering your ingredients onto you flour tortilla.

Next I added some leftover grilled chicken, I also happen to think these would be awesome without, but Hubs seems to think meals without protein are just snacks.  I also had some leftover sautéed peppers and onions from the fajitas, so throw some of them on as well.  I also used about a teaspoon of canned diced green chilies.  And then cheese, glorious cheese!

 I used the queso fresco on the bottom and a Colby jack on the top.  Variety is the spice of life! You could use cheddar, or montery jack as well here. Or really mix it up and try a smoked gouda. Yum…..

The I used my Misto with olive oil in it on my griddle, you could also just use a regular skillet.  And carefully placed the quesadilla on the griddle, I also sprayed more olive oil on the top tortilla for when it gets flipped over.  It cooks for 5-7 minutes on each side. Be careful when you flip it.  Your goodies may spill out, just take you spatula and gently remind them where they should be.   You want everything to warm up and get all nice and melty and the tortilla will brown and be nice and crispy.  Mmmmmm. Melty and crispy! The cut into quarters and serve with tortilla chips, salsa, sour cream and or avaocado/guacamole.  You will NEVER see me put plain sour cream on anything to serve.  I am not a fan of sour cream.  I can cook with it, use it as a dip, but not as a garnish, never.  Hubs will but not me.  But I understand that some care for it, I just don’t understand why.

You really need to make these!

Flour tortillas

Roasted butternut squash

Grilled chicken

Black beans

Sauteeed onions and peppers

Dice green chilies

Queso fresco cheese

Colby Jack cheese.

Best I could do for a recipe J

Enjoy!  I really am going to go for a run now! Promise!!

C