Garden

Monday, August 26, 2013

Black bean and corn quesadillas



On July 3rd we welcomed our second daughter, Fiona Marie, into our family. It has been an amazing, challenging, joy-filled, sleep-deprived 8 weeks and we wouldn't trade it for the world. However, let's just say I haven't been cooking much... salads, wraps and BBQ have been our go-to meals.  Wonderful friends of ours came over with their two kids in the midst of new baby craze-haze, and they brought the ingredients for black bean quesadillas. Not only was it a huge blessing, but we loved it so much that we added it to our regular menu rotation! They are easy, healthy, and most importantly; delicious. I have yet to convince our almost two-year-old that black bean paste is not evil... she eats a deconstructed quesadilla - a "deconstradilla" I call it - without the beans. 

Ingredients:
4 wraps
Black bean paste - about 1/2 can (recipe below)
1 bell pepper (colour of your choice - red is prettiest)
1/2 cup corn (fresh or thawed)
Cheddar cheese
Salsa
Sour cream or plain yogurt

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Black bean paste recipe  
(Feel free to double the recipe and use a whole can of beans. 
The paste will keep about a week, or you can freeze it)
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 can black beans, with liquid
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp pepper
Salt to taste

Directions
Heat oil in small pot or skillet. Fry onions until soft and golden, add the spices and beans and cook for 5 minutes. Mash with a potato masher, or if you like a smoother texture use a food processor (just be careful, it's pretty hot) 
Voilà!

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Directions for quesadillas
Spread some black bean paste on half of the wrap, sprinkle with corn, chopped peppers and cheese.


Fold in half and place in pan to heat up until cheese is melted and the wrap is golden. 


Serve with salsa! (and sour cream or plain yogurt if you have it) 


I can see including avocado or sliced tomato in a variation of these. And I bet guacamole would be great on top! Maybe next time...