Healthy Home Revolution: Chicken Quesadillas

Yesterday was my baby girl's 1st birthday! Yay! I wanted to make her a dinner that she would love. She loves quesadillas, chicken, and avocado so this made total sense. I cooked the chicken to cater to the taste buds of my kids. You can add the heat to taste directly to the chicken quesadillas. In this case, I was also able to use up leftovers from my baked taco dinner last week. I used the leftover fat-free refried beans mixed with the leftover green chilies. The perfect amount of spice and it helped the tortillas stick together.

These are yummy, easy, and with low-fat cheese and high fiber, whole grain tortillas, a very healthy meal. You can add sauteed onions, peppers, spinach, and/or mushrooms in addition to the chicken or instead of to create a meatless meal. Serve with a veggie of your choice and/or a simple green salad with balsamic vinaigrette. Enjoy!

Happy Cooking,
Sarah

Chicken Quesadillas
2 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 can of refried beans (leftover from baked taco recipe)
1/2 can of diced green chilies (also leftover from baked taco dinner - I hate wasting food)
8 whole grain, high fiber tortillas
1/2 - 1 cup reduced fat cheddar or part skim mozzerella cheese
light or fat-free sour cream, salsa, taco sauce, and/or guacamole for serving

Spray a non stick pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle the cut chicken with garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Saute over medium heat until cooked through, about 5-10 min. Set aside.

Cooked chicken - I gave it to the kids just like this, serving them with cheese only quesadillas

Mix together the refried beans and diced chilies, as pictured above. Lay out your ingredients and begin to build your chicken quesadilla.

I was making only 2 for my husband and I, and plan cheese for the kids.

First, spread about 2 T of the bean mixture onto the tortilla (I am building 2 at a time in the picture above). Now is the time to sprinkle with any additional spice, such as tabasco or red hot. Then layer the chicken and about 1/4 cup of cheese per quesadilla.

Please note that I broke the chicken apart as I made the quesadilla, but this step is not necessary, it just helps to keep them together the flatter they are.

Place the another tortilla on the top and place into a non-stick pan over medium heat. Cook for 3-5 minutes per side, being careful that they don't burn. (I used to grease or spray in this step)