Cheesy Chicken Quesadilla with Hummus and Red Pepper
While the sisterroommate is away, the mouse will play!
This week both my mum and sister have skipped country, leaving me to fend for myself to cook. I must be getting better at my kitchen adventures, because I have been successfully making all kinds of delicious eats without much of a hitch (although I’ve got a few days left of just feeding me and the cat, so maybe I shouldn’t speak too soon….). And now I’ve got two yummy recipes to share with you.
Cheesy Chicken Quesadilla with Hummus and Red Pepper
At $2/pepper, I am very careful with what dishes I use that precious vegetable in! It’s been a while since I last had a quesadilla so after scrounging around I came up with this quick and tasty concoction. Each flour tortilla was 90 calories a piece, so I’m guestimating that it rounds out to about 300 calories in all. Not bad for a filling meal!
1. Take a flour tortilla and spread with hummus (I like homemade: put chickpeas in blender with some cumin, black pepper, garlic, squeeze of lemon juice, and a spritz of olive oil; easy peasy!).
2. Take some grilled chicken breast (I used the George Foreman to grill mine and sprinkled it with the spice mix that I received from the awesome RhodeyGirl– delicious!) and cut it into chunks before spreading over top of the hummus. You don’t need very much chicken; I think I used about 1/4-1/3 of a breast.
3. Pile on the veggies: spinach, tomato, green pepper, and of course the red pepper. Grate a little cheddar cheese (I used reduced fat) and sprinkle it on top, then cover with a second tortilla.
4. Transfer the quesadilla onto a pre-heated griddle. After a few minutes, flip it over with a spatula (the one side should be a nice golden brown). I guess mine was a little bit too full of ingredients because it started to spill out when I flipped it. Oops.
5. After a few minutes, it should be nicely toasted on both sides! Plop Carefully slide it onto a plate and cut into slices. Enjoy with a big glass of skim milk!
This was very tasty and is also healthy. I was interested in something sweet afterward and I found an intriguing recipe at Panini Happy for apple turnovers. When my mum made an apple pie a couple weeks ago, she gave me the leftover pastry, so I decided that this would be the perfect use for it. Felt very indulgent after coming up with this little creation!
Grilled Cinnamon and Apple Pastry
1. Take a small amount of pastry and roll it out as thin as you can on your pastry board. Or rough table cloth, if that’s what you use for a pastry board. (I was having trouble rolling it out thin so mine was quite thick. Okay, that’s a lie- my favorite part about pie is the pastry so I purposely made sure there was lots of it. Yum).
2. Peel an apple and cut 1/2 of it into thin slices. Take a spoonful of applesauce and put it in a small bowl, then sprinkle a mixture of cinnamon and nutmeg into that and mix it up. Add the apple slices and coat them well.
3. Pile on the apple slices onto half of your rolled-out pastry. Carefully fold the other half of the pastry on top and transfer it to your beloved George Foreman.
4. After about 10 minutes, lift the lid and your apple turnover is complete! It might not look so very pretty, but it tastes amazing.
Cool turnover recipe – I’ll have to try it!! Enjoy having your house to yourself 🙂
Yum Yum that looks delicious. I only ever use my grill for sausages, which isn’t the best, but I have new ideas now, thanks. :0)
CP x
Sagan, use your freshly washed hands (and the heat from them) to warm up the pastry first, rolling the pastry around in your palms until it is quite pliable; THEN it will be much easier to roll out (with your marble rolling pin) a tad thinner; if you use a big round bowl to “cut out” the pastry into a perfect circle you will end up with a very neat looking apple turnover; use the tines of a fork to squish the edges of the pastry together after you have put the apple filling in, and “voila”, you will have a tasty and lovely neat looking creation (and Bucky would be very proud indeed).
Yum, my mouth is watering…time for dinner at a Khmer restaurant here in Phnom Penh…see you in 2 more weeks!
LOVE this post.
more like this please (&thankyou as the toddler says:))
and I can not believe you will be in Phnom Penh in TWO WEEKS!
Both look delish! Thank you!
You have completely turned around the cooking thing Sagan. I seem to remember that this was a bit of a trial some time before. 🙂
oooh, love that apple pie turnover 🙂 and i am with you on the peppers, $$! great quesadilla too!
FABULOUS!! I looove hummus and red pepper 😀
It sounds so yummy! Makes me wish I wasn’t terrified of burns.
Oh wow those look yummie…I can’t wait to try them out!
Maggie & CP- George Foreman is my love.
Anony-mum- oh, but where’s the fun in having it look pretty? 🙂 Thanks for the tips, I will try that next time. I attempted to do the fork thing but it failed pretty miserably.
MizFit- sadly, it’ll be a few months before I’m in Phnom Penh… the mother dear will just be returning in a couple weeks. But I’d much rather go THERE!
Cammy & Meg- they are quite tasty.
Tom- I’m pretty sure this is still all a fluke. It’s because I don’t have an audience. As long as no ones around while I cook I’m gold 😉
ttfn300- red peppers are so delicious, hate the cost! But good quality food is worth it:)
VeggieGirl- such a good combo!
Tricia- That’s why we use a griddle and George Foreman- much less chance of burns. And lots of oven mitts. Definitely necessary.
I was thinking of getting a George Foreman grill, but I didn’t know what to use it for. But that is one super idea using it for a pastry!
Interestingly enough, it was Fiona that taught me how to make quesadillas.
Yummy! I think you should come over and cook for me, Sagan :-).
Sagan – that looked like a fabulous supper!! I did wonder, though, if you cooked your filled quesadilla on the George Foreman, that would save trying to turn it over, wouldn’t it?
And your apple turnover looked delicious!
Now I’m hungry…….:)
Yum, yum, yum to both of those recipes! I’ve never thought of putting hummus on a veggie quesadilla, but now my mouth is watering for it. Thanks!
Oh man I loooove quesedillas. And hummus!? Genius! I can see olives being good in there.
Sharon- you can use a George Foreman for ANYTHING. Grilled sandwiches, grill meat, grill veggies… it’s awesome.
Westwood- …and then she disappeared. 🙂
Dara- the next time you’re in Winnipeg!
Bag Lady- I thought about that… I was worried it might all ooze out everywhere. Like the apple turnover did. But I think you’re right, that would be the best idea. Next time!
Cathy & Monica- can’t go wrong with hummus and cheese 😀
Those both sound great! I’ll have to make some quesadillas this week, since they’re so fast and easy. And $2 per pepper is cheap down here! Red peppers last week were $3.50 each.
Great job in the kitchen! Yep, flipping can be the most difficult part!
How you remain so delciously petite is a mystery to me…but there you go…..
I want to thank you so much for the wonderful evening at the theatre and I hope you are OK since everyone has abandoned you …at least for the moment…….
I am the next one to go…on Tuesday Yay!!!!
OK both those recipes are great! Makes me wish i still had a foreman grill! :P)
Great idea for an apple turnover. I miss those things, even the frozen ones were out of this world…
Gena- it’s so annoying how expensive they are! They’re so tasty.
Biz319- thanks! I aspire to your kind of cooking 😀
Rebecca- won’t be petite much longer if I keep up all the munching I’ve been doing this past week, hehe… gotta stop with the boredom eating. I’m so glad that you came to the theatre with me! It was fun. And have a GREAT time when you go!
Natalia- no George Foreman? Oh my. I’m not quite sure how you survive without one of those… hehe.
Nick- there’s something about an apple turnover that just can’t be beat! Although now I realize that I should have figured out a way to incorporate some peanut butter in there… next time 😉
Okay I am all over his one! Yum!