CSA Quesadilla

It is more than pathetic that I abandoned this blog for about 2 months. Life took hold too strongly for a moment there. I was overwhelmed with work, and counting down the days until my 2 week vacation to re-visit my southern roots.

I'm back now. Rejuvenated, and refreshed, feelings that never fail to wash over me as I return from a trip to the south. This trip was especially special. It was filled with family, friends, cooking, traveling, and finally getting to see my mom after her battle with another car, causing her ankle to basically shatter. A couple surgeries, and some PT later, she seems to be on the up and up. She is a fighter, and completely inspiring.

I also got to see a favorite band of mine with James who shares a deep love for them as well. We had a blast in Knoxville. The night was perfect.

Now on to cooking. I was told by someone that apparently reads this blog that I need to post something easy to do. For people that come home after a long day of work, and want something no fuss. It's funny that she said that. Most of my recipes are things I cook over the weekend, and they take time. Well here is an idea for a no fuss, I'm super hungry after work meal.

CSA Quesadilla

Serves 1 (or 2 depending on how hungry you are)

1 large flour tortilla

Your favorite cheese, shredded

Fresh organic vegetables, chopped ***

1/2-1 tbsp. Olive oil

1 tbsp. minced garlic

Salt

Pepper

Washed lettuce

*** I call this the CSA quesadilla, because I made this one night when I looked around and noticed some of our veggies that we get delivered to our door by a local CSA were on the verge of going bad. I had to do something with them, and this is what I did. So good!

Depending on how many vegetables you are sauteing heat 1/2-1 tbsp. olive oil over low to medium heat in a large saucepan. When I made my quesadillas I used onions, carrots, broccoli, kale, and fava beans, but anything you have around will taste good. Try tomatoes, greens, cauliflower or broccoli, mushrooms, squash, whatever. Add the chopped vegetables to the pan. About 5 minutes in toss in the garlic. The longer garlic cooks, the less pungent its flavor becomes. If you love garlic, throw it in towards the end to retain the flavor. Continue cooking the veggies until soft, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. To conserve pans (I don't want to clean them later!), put the vegetables on a plate, and set aside. In this same pan you sauteed the vegetables, heat one flour tortilla. Adjust heat to medium. Add your shredded cheese. Once slightly melted, add vegetables. Fold tortilla in half. Heat for 2-3 minutes until golden brown, and flip. Heat the other side for another 2-3 minutes. Flip on to plate. Open up, add the lettuce, and close it back up. Cut into triangles. Serve.

You could serve these with your favorite hot sauce or salsa. They are plenty filling, but if you want to have a full plate, serve them with some Mexican rice and black beans.

I was just thinking I wanted to put something like Yum-O at the bottom here. That's Rachel Ray's catchphrase though. I'll be thinking of my very own catchphrase, and you can find it here next week. Until then!