Leftover Broiled Quesadillas

The easiest thing out there. It's pretty hard to mess up, and contains cheese. Eveyone likes cheese.

We normally have some leftover food from the previous dinner (excluding items for The Husband's lunch). It can be meat, or veggie, or both. The beauty of a quesadilla, is that it can contain anything. It's like a pizza. Endless possibilities.

Typically, I chop everything to a fine dice and then add in extra vegetables. I prefer the 6 inch corn tortillas, for bite sized portions.

This is an example, using leftover BBQ ribs and a side of sauteed spinach with garlic. I had about a cup of leftover filling with this appilication.

Leftover Quesadillas Example:
4 leftover baby back ribs, bone removed and diced fine
1/2 cup leftover sautéed spinach
2 green onions, minced
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 Tbsp BBQ sauce
3 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated
8 - 6 inch corn tortillas*

Combine first 5 ingredients, mixing to incorporate filling.

Place 1/2 of cheese on one half of each tortilla. Top each tortilla evenly with filling, and finish with remaining cheese. Fold tortilla over to create one 'half moon'.

On a baking sheet, lined with foil and with the addition of a wire rack, arrange quesadillas. Coat with cooking spray.

Set oven to broil, and using a middle rack position, cook quesadillas until browned bubbles appear. Remove from oven. Flip, coating new side with cooking spray and continue to broil until browned again.

Allow to cool slightly and enjoy.

*Watch for stubborn tortillas. Heat in the microwave for a few seconds to allow flexiblity.

Sesame Soy Meatballs

I love this recipe, and have been making it for years - long before the little people. Meatballs are great for introducing new flavors and sneaking in a few things that might otherwise be thrown across the room.  

The latest adaptation included a whole carrot (peeled and grated), and 1/2 a cup of kale (after having stems removed and finely diced). I could not tell a difference in the flavor profile compared to the original.

Here's the link...   

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/sesame-soy-meatballs

I served this one up with quinoa and green beans.

Purple Drink (Smoothie)

This is what I round out a known 'no-go' meal with, a couple times a week. Purple drink is a spinach/greens smoothie with blueberries and banana.

Shhh, don't talk about the spinach. They'll hear you. 

I don't have a fancy Vitamix (though I think I deserve one). I rock an immersion blender in a large cup. It works fine for two toddler servings. The little people think it's awesome.

Technically. It's a small meal in itself. I get about an 8+ ounce serving per kid with this. 

I've found that when I do half kale/half spinach, a honey addition is needed. It's easiest just to use spinach.

The Basic Purple Drink:

3/4 cup Greek yogurt (any flavor)

1/2 a banana, broken into pieces

1 large handful of fresh spinach

2 tsp (heaping) whey protein powder

1 cup frozen blueberries

Milk to cover (sorry, I don't have an exact measurement)

Combine all ingredients, and blend until smooth. Add milk if needed.  

Silly Sloppy Sliders

Now, I know that quick sloppy joes aren't the healthiest meal out there (I'm looking at you, absurd amount of ketchup and sugar), but they're good. They're also easy, so let's just add a bunch of vegetables and call it a day.

I goofed on my grocery trip and didn't have a critical ingredient for the planned meal. I was not hauling two under napped kids to the store and then frantically speed cooking. I needed an alternative and the pound of ground beef was looking like a contender. I had rolls, so sloppy joes made sense. I did some googling and found a recipe labeled "healthy". It had two measly carrots in addition to the traditional ingredients. Ha! I'll see you those two carrots and empty my fridge of plant life.

H can be wary of any sandwich without peanut butter, so I talked these guys up as 'silly' because they could get messy. It worked I guess, or the sugar content did. Either way, kids ate them and the included vegetables up. I'm calling it a win.

I tallied the nutritional content on the final result, and it's not horrible - except the sugar. Under 400 calories for 2 sliders. Also, I literally just grabbed random vegetables from my fridge. Do the same if needed. You don't have to have the exact things as long as they make sense together.

Silly Sloppy Sliders:

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1-1/2 cups (ouch) ketchup

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp fish sauce (optional)*

2 carrots, peeled and grated

1/2 cup onion, diced fine

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup green bell pepper, diced small

1/3 cup red bell pepper, diced small

1 cup packed fresh spinach, diced fine

2 stalks celery, diced fine

4 crimini mushrooms, diced fine

1 pound lean ground beef

S&P to taste

Slider buns

Provolone cheese slices

Combine first four ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Set aside.

Combine all vegetables in a large bowl. Set aside.

Brown beef in a large skillet, coated in cooking spray, over medium high heat. When just a bit of pink is left, add vegetables and cook until slightly softened. Stir in ketchup concoction and reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes or until sauce thickens. Season to taste.

Broil cut side up slider buns in oven until lightly toasted. Remove from oven. Add broken provolone cheese slices (half a slice per sandwich) to each exposed side and return to oven to melt.

Top one side of cheesed roll with beef mixture and create a sandwich with the other side.

Eat.

*Fish sauce is awesome and adds that umami taste you've heard about somewhere. It's good stuff.