March 8: Vegan Quesadilla

So remember the rice and beans from the other night? We had leftovers, but not enough to make a full meal of just the rice and beans. We both love quesadillas, but now I'm dairy free, and traditional quesadillas have cheese.  So, I wondered if I could make a vegan version that tasted good and stayed together. We also had some of the warm tomato salad left over, so this used up all kinds of ingredients. The whole thing won for ease and also for allowing us to use food we might have tossed in a less careful week.

Main Ingredients
about 1.5 cups black beans
about 1.5 cups white rice
about 2 c spinach
3-4 mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 onion, finely chopped
Leftover warm tomato salad
small corn tortillas (2 per quesadilla)

1) Turn the black beans into simple refried beans. Put them in a fry pan with a bit of oil, and then as they heat up, mash them using a fork or a potato masher. Set aside.
2) Heat up the rice in the microwave - about 1 minute on high should do.
3) Cook up your veggies. I did a quick sauté of the onions and mushrooms (and probably some garlic) in a fry pan and then as I was taking it off the heat, I added the spinach and stirred it up so that it wilted.
4) Coat a fry pan with non-stick cooking spray. Heat it up. Put down one tortilla.
5) Build your quesadilla - start with the beans, press some rice onto them, top with veggies, top with warm tomato salad, put the other tortilla on top.
6) Heat until the bottom tortilla begins to brown, then very carefully FLIP the quesadilla. Heat the other side, slide onto a plate.

As you'll see below, without the cheese to hold it all together, some of the filling fell out. As my Mama would say, "It's all going to the same place!"

Well, maybe someday, but for some reason, this picture won't load. So, I'm calling it quits for now and heading to bed! Picture any quesadilla you've ever seen! :)