Mi Casa es Tu Casa

Tonight, I'm a little short on ingredients. When this happens, I use this handy-dandy Web site:  Supercook.com. It doesn't always give you what you're looking for, but it is a useful tool to get your gears grinding.

Step 1:  Find a starting point. I knew I wanted to make a Mexican dinner because my boyfriend loves Mexican food and I have a ton of tortillas in the fridge. On Supercook.com, I entered chicken, spinach, refried beans, cheese, and tortillas and found a recipe for Chicken-Spinach Quesadillas. Step 1 is officially out of the way. On to...

Step 2:  Work with what you know and what you have, and make changes accordingly. The recipe calls for frozen spinach, but I have fresh spinach. This doesn't require any change because fresh spinach will wilt fast. Also, Nate loves sour cream. I have to fit that in...this is also an easy change. Just plop some on top when it's done.

Step 3:  Have all the ingredients out and ready to ensure you have everything you need. Nothing worse than starting a recipe only to find out you're missing an ingredient. Don't forget, there are always substitutions! In my case, unfortunately, I am fresh out of peppers and onions. I'm going to use crushed red pepper and onion powder to get that flavor in there.

Step 4:  Cook the chicken. My chicken was not pre-cooked, so I need to cook it myself. The recipe calls for cubed chicken, but we prefer ours shredded. I have a few chicken tenders left, so I'm going to just throw those in a skillet with some olive oil.

When they are done cooking, sprinkle them with a little salt and pepper. This is also a good time to throw in my substitutions, onion powder and crushed red pepper. Place in a bowl and use 2 forks to shred them up. If you like, toss in a bit of hot sauce. Don't be scared to get in there. Use your hands if you have to.

Step 5:  Assemble the quesadillas. This recipe uses pesto. I happen to have prepared pesto on hand, but if you do not...here is a simple recipe:  Pesto. Spread the pesto on the tortilla shells, about 2 tablespoons per shell. Top with spinach, cheese, and shredded chicken. I'm just going to eyeball how much of each ingredient I want on my quesadilla. I think I'm going to add some diced tomatoes...a little hot sauce...yeah, that's it.

Top with another tortilla shell and press firmly.

Step 6:  Get 'em cooking! Now, this step can be different depending on what you're more comfortable with. The recipe I found uses a skillet on the stove top. Normally, I would put the quesadillas on a cookie sheet covered with foil and bake them at 350 degrees until the cheese is melted. Since I'm feeling frisky, I'm going to give the skillet thing a try. Here goes....

Lightly spray the skillet with Pam so it doesn't burn, and place the quesadilla gently into the skillet. Cook for about 3 minutes.

Now, the fun part (or, perhaps, disastrous). I'm going to let Nate flip the quesadilla...hands free! Yeah, I'm going there....and....

SUCCESS! He did it...I sure did pick a winner! :)


Whew! Now that that's over...I can explain the little fiasco that is Pete. Pete is one of our cats...that decided to jump over the counter and slide into the kitchen.

In the process, he managed to knock the other quesadilla onto the floor...but we saved it. We lost one tortilla...so the second quesadilla looks kind of like an omelette. Still tasty though.

Quesadillas are done. I'm going to let them cool before adding the dollop of sour cream. Just quesadillas would be too boring for us...so I'm going to whip up some cheesy nachos and chicken/bean burritos to go with it. Nothing fancy. Just put some tortilla chips on a cookie sheet covered with foil and bake at 350 degrees until the cheese is melted. A little leftover homemade salsa for dipping.

For the burritos, I'm using the leftover shredded chicken, a can of refried beans, cheese, spinach, and hot sauce.

All I'm doing is putting it all on a shell and rolling it up. These can be made early and microwaved whenever, or you can bake them just like the nachos, 350 degrees until the cheese melts. You can even put a little extra cheese on top before you put them in!

Enjoy your mini Mexican Fiesta!

Echo...