Chicken Chorizo and Potato Quesadillas, Birdeye

If only all photos had a scratch and sniff...this was so
divine in my kitchen with all the chile powder and onion...we loved it!

These are my condiments for most Mexican cooking, chopped
fresh tomatoes, a little red onion, fresh japs from the garden and
Terry's lime guacamole...delish I'll say....

You must, must try this fresh, low fat quesadilla, it is divine!
The leftover chicken/potato mixture was great this week in a
whole wheat wrap, yummy!

Chloe invited a good friend/church buddy Margaret
Woodruff over after church last Sunday.
They wanted a project so I gave them
canvases I had ready to be painted for the guest room.
I LOVE these flowers they created..it's so fun to show
talent of our local kids and of course, Coco!
Most importantly, they had a blast doing it and
Margaret only ruined one pair of jeans,
thank goodness!!

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Terry Conlan is a genius!  What a great dinner we had last Saturday...I was trying to decide what to prepare and this one caught my eye because I had all the ingredients. And it was ready in record time.  I love the easy, low fat recipes that Terry's blessed us with!  You've gotta get his cookbook!  So here goes:

Quesadilla translates as "little cheese thing", and although there is a bit of cheese in this recipe, it's the substitution of lean chicken for the pork in this warm, pungently spiced Mexican sausage filing that provides the missing link.  Try one, accompanied by our bright avocado salsa and a dab of fat free sour cream, if desired for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

1/2 ground all natural chicken breast (I used 2 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless and it worked fine)
2 T. Chili powder
1 small bay leaf, ground in a spice grinder (I used my mortar and pestle)
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. each oregano, thyme and marjoram (I didn't have the marjoram)
1/8 t. each of ground cloves and salt
1 T. cider vinegar
1 C. diced and peeled cooked potato (I microwaved it)
2 t. Canola oil
1/2 C each diced onion and reduced fat cheddar cheese (I had regular cheddar cheese)
8 corn tortillas (I needed only 6 and used the rest of the filling later in the week on a whole wheat tortilla)

The Salsa
1/2 ripe Avocado (I used the whole darn thing)
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/4 C. chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 serrano chile, minced (I used 4 fresh jalopenos)
2 t. fresh lime juice (I used the whole lime)
1/8 t. salt
1/4 C. water (you need this to smooth it out)

Combine the chicken and ingredients through the vinegar in a bowl and mix well, set aside.  Boil potato in lightly salted water in a saucepan and drain (I microwaved my potato).  Saute chicken mixture until almost cooked through and add the potato, onion and remaining oil and cook until it browns.  Remove from heat and mash the mixture.  Top each of 4 tortillas with chicken mixture and top with cheese and add another tortilla.  Spray a non stick skillet with non stick cooking spray and cook the quesadillas over medium heat until both sides are crisp, turning once (I recommend medium high heat to get it browned, and it's not that fun trying to turn them, I used a small skillet which wasn't great ) Combine the salsa ingredients and puree in a blender.  Cut the quesadillas in wedges and serve with avocado salsa.  Serves 4.

Nutrients per serving: Cal 338; Prot 21 gr; Carb 38 gr; Fat 13 gr (more if you use the whole avocado like me :)

Let me say what an easy, low fat meal this is!  It was a great, light dinner that works around here with all the baseball games and college football too.  It's divine!