just call me Chef Carrie

Ok, maybe not really, but I was trying to come up with a creative title for my December meals post so that's what you got.

Anyway, I made 2 new meals in December. Just getting around to blogging them. Surprised? I hope not. Otherwise you're probably new hear and don't realize I'm late to the party a lot haha.

Anyway...again. 2 new meals. Well, 1 new-ish. I made beef enchiladas back in October using a red sauce. I really enjoy green enchiladas and I grabbed a can of sauce at the store right after I made these red sauce enchiladas. I had intended to make chicken this time. But I just never got around to actually making the chicken ones. I defrosted chicken for them on a couple of different occasions. I just was never in the mood to cut up the chicken. I hate cutting raw chicken. So we always ended up making some else with that chicken. And then one day we had beef defrosted. And Steve had been begging me to make enchiladas for weeks. So I finally did it. I used the same basic recipe for the enchiladas. I sauteed onions and green chiles and then tossed in the meat and seasoned it to our liking. After that I added some green sauce. I remembered that last time I wanted to use more red sauce. Which happens to be thicker than green sauce. Which I did not know. I added the extra sauce. The extra, not thick sauce. And then I had some soup. PISSED ME OFF. I decided just to boil it out a bit, which was fine. Threw in cheese to melt. Then I stuffed the tortillas, sauced them some more, added more cheese to the top and threw them in the oven. They turned out really well. Next time, not so much of the green sauce haha.

My 2nd, actually new, meal was BBQ Quesadillas. (are you sensing a theme here? I really like mexican food haha). Each year I participate in a secret santa exchange with some girl friends of mine. This year I got the best cookbook for me. It's the Better Homes and Garden Anyone Can Cook cookbook. IT IS AMAZING. It has really simple (but delicious) recipes. And in the beginning there are step by step directions on how to do things that I didn't know how to do. It's a really great book, and if you're a beginner cook like me I highly recommend it.

So I decided to make a meal out of this book. I went for something simple to start with. I had picked out a lot of things but Steve kept veto-ing them. Which annoyed me. Anyway, we finally settled on BBQ Quesadillas.

They were really easy to make and they turned out really well. I'll definitely make them again, and I'll probably buy the ingredients to make the other suggested quesadillas (they have other recipes at the bottom of the page for turkey-havarti and a bacon, tomato, and avocado and they sound pretty good so they'll probably end up on our weekly menu here soon!)

BBQ Quesadillas. The Recipe. (Makes 4 servings)

Ingredients.
Nonstick cooking spray
4 7-8 inch flour tortillas
1 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese or Mexican cheese blend (we used Mexican, btw)
1 4 ounce can diced green chiles, drained
1 18 ounce tub refrigerated bbq sauce with shredded chicken (I went for the Lloyd's bbq chicken but you can probably make your own if you want. I did not want.)
1 cup bottled salsa
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup sliced green onions (2)

Directions
Coat one side of each tortilla with cooking spray. Place, coated side down, on cutting board or wax paper. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of cheese over half of each tortilla (I just put "some cheese" on the tortilla. I didn't measure out 1/4 of a cup. btw) Top with green chiles and chicken. Fold tortillas in half, pressing gently.

Preheat oven to 350. In a hot 10-inch skillet cook quesadillas, two at a time, over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes or until golden brown, turning once. Place quesadillas onm a baking sheet. Keep warm in preheated oven for up to 30 minutes. Repeat with remaining quesadillas.

Cut each quesadilla into 3 wedges. Serve with salsa, sour cream, and green onion.

Suggested substitutes. I haven't tried these but I figure I'll include them for you if you want to.


Turkey-Havarti Quesadilla. Prepare as above, except cote the unsprayed side of each tortilla with stone ground mustard. Substitute Havarti cheese for the cheddar and 16 ounces of cooked, sliced turkey for the chicken. Omit green chiles, salsa, sour cream, and green onion.

Bacon, Tomato, and Avocado Quesadilla. Prepare as above, except substitute Monterey Jack cheese for cheddar; use 8 crisp-cooked and crumbled bacon slices, 2 small seeded and coarsely chopped tomatoes, and 1 seeded, peeled, and chopped avocado for the filling. Omit green chiles, bbq sauce with chicken, salsa, sour cream, and green onion.