Recipe: Turkey Quesadillas

We've been looking for new recipes for lunches with low GI and low carbs, and J found a quesadilla recipe we started with.  We tweaked a few things based on what we wanted in them, as well as ingredients we found in stores.  We experimented this morning with them, made some changes to the recipe, and J and I both gave them our seal of approval when we had them for lunch - they were very tasty.  They were also very handy - a great size to fit in the hand, and not too big or small.  One makes a great snack, and two would be a great meal.

The half cans below reference the fact that we're making a second batch early in the week to last us through the rest of the work week - we'll use another pound of meat and the rest of the can contents then.  So you could use just one can of the same kind of beans.  We also used a rectangle tortilla in halves, actually called Lavash bread, that we found - flax, oats, and whole wheat - very healthy.  We're essentially making little pockets that are closed all around, instead of making the typical round quesadilla that is sliced like a pizza.  These are a lot easier for transport to work than having something that's sliced open on the sides.

Turkey Quesadillas

Ingredients:
Small tortillas of your choice
1 lb ground turkey breast
2 cloves garlic (we used garlic powder)
2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/2 small can enchilada sauce
1/2 can dark red kidney beans
1/2 can black beans
Shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 300.
2. Combine turkey with spices, and cook in skillet over medium-high heat until no longer pink.  Try to break up into as small pieces as possible.
3. Rinse beans in colander and add to pan.  Add enchilada sauce, and mix all ingredients until coated with sauce.
4. Add mixture by spoonful onto a tortilla until majority of area is covered, leaving edges free.  Do not pile high, as the top tortilla will need to easily reach the bottom one.
5. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese.
6. Using a basting brush, lightly coat the edges of the bottom tortilla with water.  Add the top tortilla, and sqeeze the edges together so they stick and enclose the ingredients.  Lightly coat the edges of the top tortilla with water.
7. Bake for 15 minutes.

Servings will depend on how many you make and how much you put into each one.  Out of the pound of meat and full can of total beans we had in there, we got 12 quesadillas total.

The original recipe offered all kinds of suggestions for toppings - salsa, avacado, etc.  I think sour cream would do nicely as well.  But honestly, these things are really good on their own - the bread is very tasty too, much better than a regular flour tortilla in my opinion.  And with the combination of the beans, cheese, and sauce, you don't even taste the turkey, which is usually the most bland part.

One tip I have is to only use the water right before you're going to seal them up and put them in the oven.  I had to do multiple rounds of them since only 4 would fit at a time, and I quickly learned that the water is definitely the secret to getting the edges to stick together.  So just wait to seal them until you're ready to get the next batch in, then spread the water on the edges and stick the top layer on.

We used our pizza stone to bake them on, since it gives a nice crisp to food without the scalding that comes from a metal pan - they actually turned out nice and firm, much more so than I expected, so they're easy to handle and pick up to eat.  We also cooled them on a cooling rack as they came out of the oven.  The only thing to watch out for is sometimes the sauce may leak out of the bottom slightly, so just flip over when you take them out of the oven.

Ready to go into the oven...

After coming out of the oven, nice and crispy brown on the sides...

Hot and steamy!

Yum yum!

We ate 4 today, so the remaining 8 are ready to take for lunches...

They certainly were awesome straight out of the oven.  But the only unseen factor is how it will be when we take them for lunches at work.  Microwave is typically the only option, but I think they'd still be great if we had access to a toaster oven.  We shall see.



Next up:  Greek food.  We've been enjoying Greek Fiesta more and more, and I'm on my way to learning how to recreate our favorite meals they have here at home.  Got some items at the store yesterday, so we'll see how that goes.