Monday, November 7, 2011

Ultimate Quesadilla

I got this recipe from my cousin Jennifer and made it tonight. It was super yummy! I made Derek go get some rice-a-roni so we would have a side to go with the quesadillas. And it turned out that we didn't really need it, the quesadilla was very filling.

1 large chicken breast
taco seasoning
salt and pepper
6 medium-sized corn or flour tortillas
1 can corn, drained and warmed
1 can black beans, drained, rinsed and warmed
salsa
cilantro, chopped (I didn't have any, so I skipped it)
1 can diced green chiles
Monterey, Cheddar or Pepperjack Cheese, shredded
sour cream, opt.

(These are Jenn's instructions)
Place chicken breast in a small casserole dish. Season with salt, pepper and taco seasoning. Bake for about 45 minutes - 1 hour or until no longer pink. Or you can use leftover chicken. When done, shred and add more taco seasoning if desired. Lay tortillas in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Spray lightly with cooking spray and bake at 425 degrees for a few minutes or until slightly crisp (you don't want them crunchy). Continue with remaining tortillas. Take two tortillas and top each with some shredded cheese, shredded chicken, corn, beans, salsa, chopped cilantro, diced green chiles and end with a little more cheese (so the next tortilla will stick). Top each with another tortilla and repeat layering with ingredients. Last, top each with a third tortilla. Place layered quesadilla pies back in the oven for a few minutes until cheese melts or place in the microwave for about 45 seconds. Cut into triangles and serve with sour cream. Yield: 2-3 servings. Make sure to add enough cheese between layers or your corn and beans will fall out as you try to eat it (the cheese helps everything stick together).

This is how I made it-
I cooked the chicken in a pan with oil because I made this last minute and didn't have an hour for the chicken to cook. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, & taco seasoning and then cut it into tiny squares.
I took the tortillas and topped each with some shredded cheese, chicken, corn, beans, salsa, diced green chiles and then more cheese (so the next tortilla will stick), then topped with another tortilla. Instead of layering them and putting it in the oven...I used my quesadilla maker and cooked one at a time for a few minutes. Then topped with sour cream. And they were so yummy! It made enough for 4 adult servings

Friday, August 12, 2011

Better-than-ever cheesy meat lasagna

At least that's what the recipe said. I'm not sure it was the best lasagna I've ever had (mostly because I have forgotten how to think, and I forgot to boil the lasagna noodles, so I had to cook it super long just to make the noodles not so hard), but it was pretty good. Mostly I just figured someone needed to update this poor neglected blog.

3/4 lbs extra lean ground beef
3 gloves garlic, minced (I used the garlic press instead)
1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano leaves
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 large tomato, chopped (I left this out...seeing as how we don't like tomatoes)
1 egg
1 container (16 oz) low fat cottage cheese (I used ricotta cheese, but the recipe said that they were trying to be more healthy...I didn't have any cottage cheese though and I think I like ricotta better)
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
9 lasagna noodles, COOKED AND DRAINED (JUST DON'T FORGET THAT PART)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat oven to 375. Brown meat with garlic and oregano in saucepan. Stir in spaghetti sauce, simmer 5 min., stirring occasionally. Remove from heat stir in tomatoes (since I didn't use tomatoes, I added spinach...you know since it's super healthy for you, but you can only eat it mixed in with stuff)
It looks really not appetizing, but don't let it fool you :)
Mix egg, cottage (ricotta) cheese and parmesan. Spread 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce mixture onto bottom of baking dish. Top with layers of 3 noodles, 1 cup cottage cheese mixture, 1/2 cup mozzarella, and 2 cup remaining sauce mixture. Repeat layers. Top with remaining noodles and remaining sauce mixture. Cover with foil.
Bake 30 min. or until heated through. Uncover; top with remaining mozzarella. Bake, uncovered, 5 min. or until cheese is melted. Enjoy!!!
This looks a little weird also, probably cause the noodle edges were so crunchy!
But it really did taste better then it looks :)