What's for Dinner? -- BBQ 'Chicken' Quesadillas

I'm not doing a great job of blogging once a week. I guess that is kinda obvious. Someone suggested that I just write about what I fix for dinner. Heck, that's easy enough, so I will give that a shot the next few days/weeks.

One night this week I made Barbequed "Chicken" Quesadillas and they were a real winner with Robert. It was a very fast dinner to get on the table, probably took me 20 minutes from beginning to end.

I like Morningstar Farms products for the most part. The Chick-N-Strips are a staple in my freezer. I thawed out a handful in the microwave and then diced them up into small cubes and placed them in a bowl. I poured my favorite bbq sauce on them -I happen to like good ol' Kraft's Slow Simmered Mesquite Smoke. While they sat around and soaked up the sauce, I switched to preparing the rest of the quesadilla fillings.

I took a handful of frozen corn and thawed it in the microwave. I sliced 4-5 green onions including the green tops and grated some jalapeno jack cheese. That's all there was to the quesadilla filling. I find that quesadillas are better when there are only one or two main ingredients and not a whole bunch of different vegetables competing. In this case I wanted a sweet and smoky quesadilla highlighted by the bbq'd 'chicken' and the corn.

For a side dish, I cut a zucchini into large dices and sauteed it briefly in canola oil. I opened a can of black beans, draining and rinsing. To the zucchini I added garlic, cumin powder and coarse black pepper. When the squash was just barely tender I added the beans and adjusted the spices.

When I cook canned beans I almost always work in a fresh vegetable or two. Just another clever way to ensure your family is eating their share of veggies! Diced eggplant is great with chick peas, leeks with navy beans, kale or other greens with butter beans, tomatoes with green beans, carrots with black eye peas, etc..

Lastly I opened a package of whole wheat flour tortillas - another staple in my kitchen and started assembling the quesadillas by layering the cheese, 'chicken', corn and green onion. I browned and crisped them in a frying pan with just a drizzle of canola oil.

While they were cooking, I made a quick salad with mixed greens, avocado, tomato and broccoli. I always try and include at least one cruciferous veggie in our salads. Try alternating broccoli, cauliflower, broccoflower, rapini or even thinly shaved brussels sprouts in your salads. They are chocked full of vitamin C, fiber and potent anti-cancer properties!

It only took a minute to plate everything and we enjoyed a filling, tasty and fast week night dinner. So, what's been on YOUR dinner plate lately? Drop me an e-mail and let me know your own fast, week night dinner ideas!