Corn and Hatch Chili Quesadilla

I went to the HEB the other day and was greeted with the awesome aroma of roasting Hatch chili peppers. What can you do? You buy them, of course and make as many things as possible with them.

Last night I mixed up a nice pyrex container of corn, Hatch chilis and parsley. The plan, to stuff it all inside tortillas and make quesadillas!

Corn and Hatch Chili Quesadilla
nutrition facts, Serves six

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup whole kernel corn - your choice of thawed from frozen or fresh scraped from the cob
1/2 cup roasted and peeled Hatch chilis (hot or mild as you prefer), rough chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 t smokey paprika
8 oz Monterrey Jack Cheese
6 large flour tortillas
1 can fat free black bean frijoles
1 1/2 cups salsa
non-stick spray

Directions:

Measure and chop the corn, chilis, and cilantro. Mix in a Pyrex dish if you want or the bowl of your preference.

Put the black bean frijoles in a small casserole with a lid (you can use regular frijoles if you like).

Assemble all the other ingredients on the counter.

Lay out three of the tortillas on a work surface (I used two cutting boards).

Sprinkle half the cheese on the tortillas. Divide the chili mixture among the tortillas spreading the filling out to about half an inch from the edges.

Sprinkle the other half of the cheese on top of the chilis mix.

Top each with paprika and then place the remaining three tortillas on top sandwich style.

Heat a large non-stick skillet to medium. Hover your hand over it and when it is very hot, remove from the burner and give a spritz with the non-stick spray. Carefully lift one of the quesadillas and place in the pan.

This is a good time to nuke the frijoles.

Use a spatula and press the quesadilla while it cooks. Not all the time, just every now and then. When the cheese starts to melt you will be able to tell by how it feels when you press. This is a good time to check the bottom of the tortilla to see if it is getting nicely browned.

When it is brown on the bottom, spray the top tortilla with non-stick spray and flip it over. Continue to cook until that tortilla is browned. Remove to a plate and cover to keep warm while you cook the remaining two quesadillas.

Divide the frijoles over the top of each quesadilla and top with salsa and, if you like, more cheese.

Slice in half to serve. Only my 23 year old son can eat an entire quesadilla and I do not suggest that the rest of you even try. Half is good. Enjoy it with a large side salad.

Taco Salad

When you want some great Tex-Mex food but you don't want all the calories of a tortilla, just put all the insides together on your plate in salad form!


Taco Salad
nutrition facts, serves four

Excellent Ingredients:

1 pound ground turkey, extra lean
1/2 t olive oil
1 T chili powder
1 t cumin
1 1/2 C Salsa 
1 1/2 C black beans, canned
6 C lettuce, torn
15 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 C onion, chopped
1 avocado, diced
1 lime, juiced
Optional: Cheese, sweet red pepper, jalapenos, serranos, Hatch chilis, more Salsa, or Tabasco

What to do:

Drain and rinse the black beans. Prepare the lettuce, tomatoes, and onion. Dice the avocado and squish the lime over the pieces.  Prep the optional ingredients of your choice.

Put the olive oil in a large skillet or pan. Heat over medium heat until the oil shimmers. Add the turkey, stir and cook until the turkey is fully cooked. Drain any excess oil and broth from the turkey.

Return pan with turkey to the stove and stir in the chili powder and cumin. Saute about a minute - do you notice a change in the fragrance of the seasonings? Delicious.

Add the salsa - do not pre-measure the salsa and dump it all in at once. Add a little at a time until you get to the point where the turkey is well sauced but not excessively so. You want to be able to push the meat to one side and not have rivers of juice running all over. If that happens you may want to add a tablespoon of tomato paste to thicken it up a bit. Allow to simmer on low while you start the salad.

Divide the lettuce among four dinner plates. If it looks skimpy on the lettuce, feel free to add more. Lettuce has so few calories you should eat as much as you want.

After the meat has simmered 10 minutes, divide the mixture on top of the lettuce, mounding it in the center of the plate. Leave plenty of lettuce around the edge, this is where you will put most of the other ingredients.

Divide the tomatoes, onion, and avocado around the mounds of meat. If you are using peppers, arrange them over the entire plate, including the meat mountain. Top with cheese, but remember there's a lot of fat and calories in there so be very mindful as to the amount. If your day has room for a little cheese, you can use either Monterrey Jack or Sharp Cheddar... or a mix. If you love Queso Fresco, cut a few chunks and spread them around. 

If you would like to eat the salad with chips, arrange them in a pattern on the lettuce or stick one in the meat as if it were a sail on a boat.

Marinade for Flank Steak and Mushroom Fajitas

This simple marinade for fajitas takes no time to put together and has been a hit with our family and friends for, oh, about 15 years or so. One of my favorite fajita memories was the time the neighbor we never ever see popped his head over the fence and said "What are you grilling?! That smells fantastic!!!!".

If you are a vegetarian, skip the steak and just use mushrooms. There is simply no better way to marinade a portobello for grilling.

Marinade for Flank Steak and Mushroom Fajitas
Nutrition Facts

What to get:

1 pound flank steak - do not bother getting the silly "tenderized" version as the texture is most unpleasant.
2 portobello mushrooms
2 heavy duty zip lock bags
1 two cup sized Pyrex container with pour spout
1 cup aged Balsamic Vinegar from Modena - yes the source is important. Read the labels.
1/4 cup good red wine with an assertive character
1/8 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
1 4 oz container chopped garlic in olive oil.
2 T cilantro, chopped (can use dried parsley if you were unmindful and failed to get or grow cilantro)
1/4 t or so of freshly ground black peppercorns

How to assemble the marinade:

Measure the vinegar and then the olive oil into the Pyrex measuring container. Dump in the entire jar of garlic. Don't worry about this. The jarred garlic is not anywhere near as potent as fresh garlic would be. If you are a purist and never buy prepared foods at all even simply prepared foods, chop garlic. Shoot for approximately 1/4 cup of the stuff. Twist a bunch of pepper into the container and stir well.

How to get it all together:

Put the steak in one of the zip lock bags. Do not seal the bag.

Rinse (yes, I do this right before using mushrooms) the mushrooms and break off the stem if it sticks out beyond the cap. Pat dry with paper towels. Put the rinsed and dried mushrooms into a second zip lock bag. Do not seal the bag.

Stir and pour half the marinade into each bag. Turn a few times to make sure that the marinade coats the steak and mushrooms well on both sides. Press out as much air as you can and seal.

Place in the refrigerator for anywhere from 1-5 hours. Remove from the fridge about half an hour before grilling. Both grill much better when brought to at least near room temperature.

Discard all extra marinade. No need to baste during cooking.

Note:

Do not use this marinade on shrimps. The balsamic vinegar is too intense.

Mindfully enjoy your tender steak and mushrooms nicely sliced and placed lovingly within a beautiful home made tortilla. You can add fresh jalapeno slices if you have a few fresh picked from your garden. Onion slices are fine too - either raw or caramelized with sweet red pepper. Salsa or homemade guacamole are wonderful as well. Put out a bunch of options on the table and let people address their own meal in the manner they find most delicious.

Corn Tortillas

Tortilla making is a wonderfully mindful communal activity. Your family or guests will enjoy making their own tortillas. You can enjoy the savings. My five pound package of Masa Flour cost less than one 10 pack of tortillas.

Corn Tortillas

Ingredients for 8 tortillas:

Nutrition facts (6" in diameter tortilla)

1 cup Masa Flour* (do not pack)

1/8 t salt

2/3 cup warm water

Mixing it all together:

Mix the Masa Flour, salt and warm water very well for a couple minutes with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms. If the dough feels dry, add more water one tablespoon at a time. A pinch of dough should feel rather like the lobe of your ear. Let the dough rest a couple minutes. Do you think it is easy to be beaten about with a wooden spoon?

Separate the dough into eight equal sized balls of dough. Cover with a damp cloth to keep them moistened until cookery time. Don't let them sit all day or they'll dry out and you will make corn crumbles instead of tortillas.

a little on the thick side, but it worked great!
Think gordita from "that place".

Work with one ball at a time. Gently press into a round disk. Place the disk between a folded sheet of wax paper, leave room around all sides to allow for expansion.  Flatten the disk with your hand or rolling pin, until it is about 5-6 inches in diameter. After the pressing, gently remove the wax paper from each side and dust with more Masa. That way you can slip them right off the paper into the pan for cookery.

Let the eight uncooked tortillas happily sit in their wax paper holding bins while you prep the skillet.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Gently tip and slide the tortilla into the heated skillet. You may have to experiment with technique for this. I am a klutz and find that if I try to pick them up and lay them in the pan, I make a great mess of the fragile uncooked things. Thus, the tipping and slipping.

Tortillas only need to cook about 30-50 seconds on each side (if you made fat tortillas, it will take a little longer). Flip to cook the other side when the first has a few nice brown bits. Watch closely so they do not burn. It sure doesn't look like the thing will hold together, does it? So fragile before cooking. A few seconds in a skillet, and you can fold and toss them about with wild abandon...ok, maybe not wild abandon, just general abandon.

You can press the second tortilla while the first is cooking, etc..., instead of prepping them all at once. That makes it a fast very busy process, but it’s fun and you don't have to worry about the tortilla drying out or sticking to the wax paper. It’s good to make that method a two person event. One can watch the cooking tortilla and the other can do the pressing. Watch out for that third person that wants to do all the eating.

As the tortillas finish cooking, place them in a warm cotton cloth or in a tortilla warmer until all are ready and dinner is served. Enjoy Mindfully.

Notes:

*Masa Flour is corn flour that has been treated with calcium hydroxide to make the corn more digestible - the package may just say "treated with lime". It does not mean lime juice. Look for it in the ethnic section of your supermarket.  The package may say "Masa Harina". Masa Flour is used to make many corn flour based Mexican treats.

Do not use regular corn meal for this recipe. That would be most unmindful indeed.

It may take a bit of practice to get the thickness just right. I mangled a few before they started to resemble tortillas. Fortunately, Masa Flour is inexpensive, the dough quick to mix, and the tortillas fast to cook. If you mess up, just mix some more dough!

Try adding a tablespoon or two of diced Hatch Chiles to the Masa mixture. Hot or mild Hatches are fine. Cut back a bit on the water a tablespoon as the chiles will add its own liquid.

To make tostadas, allow to cool and then fry in hot oil. Top them with frijoles and veggies. 

To make gorditas, don't roll them quite so thin.

Egg, Turmeric, and a Tortilla

Those are the critical ingredients. All the others are optional or interchangeable or totally dependent upon where your whimsy takes you. I'm going to give you the basic idea for use in a small tortilla. Your choice of tortilla may change the nutrition which I've set for a small whole wheat tortilla.

What to assemble and prepare in advance of beginning the cookery:

2 t extra virgin cold pressed olive oil, preferably habanero infused.

1/4 cup onion, chopped - more or less depending on how much you love onions. I like sweet onions here, but you may be a yellow or white onion person. I don't think red ones would work, but they might if they are your fave.

1/8 t turmeric - fresh fresh fresh. I never try to buy it in the little tin anymore due to one very unfortunate experience. Go to a store that has bulk herbs and spices. Then you can then see if it is a pretty bright yellow with a rich aroma or if it is an unfortunate mottled brown with a rancid smell. Many people that think they don't like turmeric, have only had it from the little tins and it is not good. At least that's why I thought I didn't like it. Also, it is a whole lot cheaper to buy your spices in bulk, so if you haven't tried that do give it a whirl. 

1 egg of quality* from happy hens that get to trot about and are fed good whole food and not given medication to counter the fact that they are inhumanely raised in dirty confines. Crack it into a bowl and whisk a bit with a fork.

1 tomato, chopped - buy a good tomato please. They are worth the price. The Compari tomatoes that are starting to appear in stores everywhere are very good.

1 jalapeno, de-seeded and sliced or diced as you like.

1 tortilla - use any whole grain tortilla you prefer. I like whole wheat, but I also like the Artisan whole grain corn and flax tortillas. Very tasty. Experiment with several types until you find a favorite. Sometimes you just have to have the real deal with white flour and lard, but just make sure you must have it and then enjoy the heck out of it as mindfully as you can. If you are lucky and live near a store that makes tortillas, get some fresh ones!

Options:

use salsa instead of the onion, tomato, and jalapeno. Just spoon on as much as you like. Spinach is awesome in this, add about half a cup of fresh spinach to the pan after the onion softens and before you add the egg. A dose of that great Chipotle Tabasco sauce adds a lot of depth to the flavor and it goes well with the turmeric - as does just about any other pungent seasoning.

Easy Peasy Cookery:

Heat the oil in a small non stick skillet over medium heat. When the oil shimmers a bit, add the onion and saute for a few minutes. You can saute just til they are soft, or go until they begin to brown a bit.

Add the turmeric and stir a minute releasing the gorgeous aroma.

Add the beaten egg and stir until the egg is cooked to your liking. Some of you like your scrambled eggs well done, others not so well done. Making your own choice instead of just following directions exactly is as mindful as it gets.

Warm the tortilla just a little if possible (small toaster oven set on warm or microwave for 15 seconds or so is fine). Spread the egg mixture down the center of the tortilla from one end to the other. Top with the tomato and jalapeno. Fold and enjoy.

This is a very fast to make even on a work day breakfast. If your tortilla is large, double the recipe - this will keep even the most hungry of you well satisfied until lunch. Add the spinach to ramp up the nutrition levels and to add yet another veggie to the start of your day.

Look for quality eggs at a local farm or farmers market. Or you may get real lucky and find some in your local health food store. Do avoid eggs from egg conglomerates as the poor chickens there lead terrible lives and nobody wants to contribute to that. Be mindful of your egg choices.

Enchilada Pie

One of the most requested casseroles in our house is Enchilada Pie. I show you how I make it the way my family loves it, but there are many ways to vary this dish so it suits the way you eat. I'll list a few options so you can make it leaner and calorie friendly, or make just it spicy as all get out! If you watch your portions and don't get too free handed with the cheese, the calories are not at all bad!

Enchilada Pie

Stuff I assemble chop prep or whathaveyou in advance of actual assemblage:

1 pound very lean ground beef (option: ground turkey, mushrooms, tofu or any other meat alternatives you love... in fact, mushrooms sound wonderful and I think I'll do that next time)

1/2 onion, chopped

1 can Ranch Style Beans - do not drain as you will use the sauce. Now this does not make for the most healthy low sodium of dishes, so if you have to watch sodium, just use a can of drained and rinsed pinto beans and increase the salsa or add in some tomato sauce.

1/2 cup or so of salsa - use the kind you like, mild, medium, or hot. I love Paul Newman's Medium. The amount here is really just an educated guess on my part as I usually just dump it in the hot mixture from the jar and it is added in order to get a nice moist meat mixture. You could also just use a small can of tomato sauce if you really cannot take any spice at all.

1 T chili powder

2 t cumin powder

2 jalapenos, de-seeded and sliced (omit if you are not a spicy food person, or use the spicier serrano peppers if you like to sweat while you eat)

8 corn tortillas (there are a lot of tortilla options out there, try some of the new gourmet whole grain blends if you like, but I don't think regular flour tortillas will work in this dish, if I am proven wrong, please let me know in the comments!)

1-2 T butter, softened (you could sub in Pam, but do not ever sub in margarine)

1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded (obviously you can do a more or less thing here depending on if you eat cheese only in calorie counted amounts or throw caution to the wind and add cheese til the stores run out. If you don't eat cheese at all - just skip it but increase some of the liquid ingredients)

Optional: more jalapenos and chopped onions to layer into the dish.

Cookery and Assemblage:

Preheat oven to 350 F

Put the beef and onion in a large skillet and brown over medium heat. Drain of all fat.

Then add the beans, salsa, chili powder, cumin, and jalapenos. Simmer for 15 minutes and then taste. Adjust seasonings.

Spray Pam on the bottom and side of a regular 2 Qt casserole dish.

Lightly butter one side of each tortilla.

Place 3 tortillas on the bottom of the casserole butter side up. Top with 1/3 of the meat mix. Sprinkle with a bit of cheese, add three more tortillas, another third of the meat bean mixture, and cheese. Add the last two tortillas, last bit of meat and beans and top with cheese.

Cover and bake for about 40 minutes in a 350 oven or until a fork easily pierces the tortillas in the center and it is all bubbly and hot.

Warning!:

The recipe does a pretty good job of filling that casserole dish. If you overfill the casserole or use too much cheese you may get some bubble over. If you are worried, put a piece of aluminum foil on the rack beneath the casserole dish. Or, just use a larger casserole so you don't have to worry about that.

This recipe is easily doubled so you can use one of those great larger rectangular pans.

Wheat Tortillas

My daughter just loved "tias and holies!" Tortillas are easy to make and very flexible. Increase the whole wheat flour if you like. Traditional tortillas are made with lard, but as lard is not so popular these days, here's my version using shortening.

field of wheat

Wheat Flour Tortillas
nutrition facts

The good stuff therein:

3 cups unbleached organic white flour
1 cup organic whole wheat flour
2 t salt
4 t baking powder
1/4 cup shortening (Crisco is my preference)
1 1/2 cup lukewarm water

What comes next:

Mix the flours, salt, and baking powder in a medium sized bowl. Then add the shortening. You can start by cutting it in like you would baking powder biscuits, but it's really a lot more fun to mess around in it with your hands. Mix and knead the dough until it's smooth and sort of like pie dough.

Cover the mound of dough with a wet tea towel and let it sit quietly at rest for about a half an hour.

Divide the dough into 16 equal rounds - roll them all up into nice little balls.

On a floured surface, roll each ball to form a large thin circle.

You can stack these with wax paper between them and set them by the stove so they are all nice and handy.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Dip a paper towel into some good oil like canola or vegetable and quickly wipe the skillet. Add one tortilla and cook for only 1-2 minutes on each side. Cook just until the brown spots start appearing.

Cook them all, stack in one of those nice tortilla warmers if you have one and then enjoy.

You will never have a more mindful burrito or taco experience.

Avocado Chicken and Rice

This is one of those dishes that falls into the comfort food category for me. Maybe it's the cheese. You can cheese it up for as much comfort as you need. I've posted the calories here at Calorie Count using slightly less olive oil instead of the butter and using only one cup of the cheese, less avocado, and slightly smaller servings (the calories are for four servings). You can do that, it changes the taste and texture just a little, but it's still very good and a lower calorie way to go. If you are calorie counting, use those portions, otherwise, make it like I do!

I am more likely to make it as described below, easy (also comforting), use some convenience items, and not worry so much about the calories when I'm making it, so I go for more cheese and avocado!

Avocado Chicken and Rice

Ingredients for three main dish servings:

1 T butter (or olive oil)
3 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
1 T butter (or olive oil)
1 package Low Sodium Chicken Rice-a-Roni
1-2 Hatch chilis either hot or mild as you prefer (or 1 small can hatch chili peppers) - you can use more chilis if you use mild or use a mix!
2 1/2 cups chicken broth or water

2 T chopped cilantro
1-2 C Monterrey jack cheese
3 small avocados, firm but ripe
1 lime cut in half
1 1/2 C Pace Chunky Salsa in medium or hot
extra cilantro for garnish - optional

Directions:

In a large deep skillet that has a lid, melt the butter over medium heat, add the chicken chunks and saute until browned. Remove to a plate and cover with foil. Add the second T of butter to the pan and pour in the Rice-a-Roni. Stir til the bits of vermicelli are golden brown. Stir in chopped hatch chilis. Add the broth and the bag of seasonings that came with the rice and stir well. Add the chicken to the mix, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 15-20 minutes or til the rice is done. Stir in the cilantro and as much Monterrey jack cheese as you like.

You can do the presentation in a couple different ways.

Cut the avocados in half and scoop the seed and squish the lime juice over them.. Set two avocado halves on each plate with the cavity facing up. Spoon in the avocado chicken mixture, top with salsa, sprinkle with more cilantro and serve.

I've also done it as shown in the picture - make a ring of avocado slices and then mound the rice and chicken mix in the center, top with salsa, sprinkle with more cilantro and serve. Or just dice the avocado and sprinkle them on top.

 This recipe is easy to make for four or more, just increase the ingredients accordingly. There's a family size package of Rice-a-Roni that is perfect if you are making this for four.

Enjoy mindfully.

Chicken Fajitas

Nothing better than a sizzling platter of goodies to make the Tex Mex build your own "sandwich" known as a fajita! The creative possibilities are endless and they can please the vegetarian as well as the meat lover. For the vegetarians, just make sure to have plenty of portabello mushrooms.

Ordinarily I marinate flank steak in a big freezer bag with a liberal amount of balsamic vinegar and most of a little jar of chopped garlic and do likewise with portabello mushrooms in a separate bag. For a variation, I sometimes add a bit of that Instant Smoke stuff, but not always. Marinade at least an hour, turn frequently and bring to room temperature before grilling. When the coals are ready, grill both til done, slice, and fight off the *neighbors who are now all standing by your fence, plates in hand, asking what on earth that heavenly smell is and when should they come over. Don't recommend this marinade if you use chicken. It "colors" the meat unattractively, just rub with spices and grill.

*true story, well, true except for the plates.


Recently made chicken fajitas without the usual and most excellent addition of that outdoor grilled over coals flavor because I did not decide until the last minute what I wanted to eat. Sure, it's better if you can do the meal over coals, but this did just fine in a pinch and since chicken can be done without a marinade that was the meat of choice.

 


Ingredients and Directions All Mixed Up With Variations:

Whole wheat flour tortillas (warmed in the microwave)

3 thin chicken breasts coated liberally with your favorite fajita seasoning or other southwestern combination of seasonings. I used Emeril's this time. Pan fry til browned and just done with a little olive oil over medium heat, allow to sit a bit covered with foil to keep warm and slice before serving.

1 portabello mushroom given the same treatment of liberal seasoning, sliced, and sauteed in the chicken pan til softened and add to covered plate of chicken.

On another and much prettier plate, arrange sections with a pile of quartered cherry tomatoes or the tomato of your choice cut small, slices of sweet yellow onion, sliced jalapeno peppers, and torn lettuce of your preference (I used red leaf lettuce as you can see by the darkened lettuce edge to the right hand side of the "fixings" pile on the tortilla, but the type of lettuce is totally up to you).

In a bowl, squish the juice of 1/2 a lime. Then slice a not overly soft Haas avocado in half and pull apart. Use a spoon to scoop out the seed. The use the spoon to scoop bite sized lumps of avocado and add it to the bowl of lime juice and stir to coat. Scoop out the brown bits if needed - always good to have a spare avocado or two!


The lime juice will keep the avocado from turning an ugly brown. If you like the taste of lime, squish in the other half too! You could make guacamole if you prefer, and that's best kept simple: scoop the avocado(s) into a bowl with the squishings of lime juice, add a little minced garlic and mash all together, taste and add a pinch of salt if you like (I used to use celery salt and it was very good that way too). That's really all you need to do, however if you want to get fancy, add tiny bits of tomato and jalapeno as that is also very good. I don't suggest using picante sauce or Tabasco as that tends to "color" the guac and it's prettiest nice and green! For me, the more you "do" to the guacamole, the less guacamole-like it is. I've seen people make a horrid pale green mess by adding things like sour cream or some such abomination. *shudders*. Do not ever do that.

Set all this on the table with some grated sharp cheddar and your favorite salsa and get creative, or even competitive, as you build your sandwich!

Mushroom Spinach Quesadillas

Love having quesadillas for dinner. Fast and very simple. Decided to make a black bean topping tonight instead of just spooning on Pace picante sauce. Also wanted to see what happened when I added BBQ sauce to the tortilla. What happened was deliciousness!

Mushroom Spinach Quesadilla:

Brush a large tortilla a little bit of BBQ sauce (about 1 t) combined with four shakes of McIlhenny's Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce. Cover the tortilla to about 1/2 inch of the edge with a very liberal sprinkling of sharp cheddar. Top that with a sauteed mix of portobella mushrooms slices and chopped red onion. I used Habanero Olive Oil, but regular oil is fine. Then tear about a cup of fresh spinach in to pieces entirely covering the cheese and other veges. After spraying a non-stick pan with a light spray of oil, heat the pan over medium high heat. When the pan is hot, place a second tortilla on the spinach. Pan grill the quesadilla on one side for several minutes (check for brownness and melty cheesy goodness before the one and only flip). Before flipping, spray a bit of oil on top of the uncooked tortilla and continue to cook til a nice brown. The tortilla will crisp up a bit. Cut in to fourths.

Black Bean Topping:

To one can of rinsed black beans add about 3/4 of a can of crushed tomatoes with chilis, a generous dose of chili powder, cumin, and Chipotle Pepper sauce. Simmer until hot, spoon over the quesadilla.

Turkey & Black Bean Sanchos

Sanchos are a combo of a burrito and a taco. You can use Pace or Paul Newman's medium taco sauce for good flavor or make up your own! Try a bit of the new chipotle Tabasco sauce as the final added heat before rolling. That sauce is finding its way into a lot of my food. All amounts need to be adjusted to taste, this is a fairly mild starter recipe, so don't be afraid!

slice some of these for an extra kick!

Sanchos My Way
Nutrition facts

Ingredients to prepare and measure before commencing to cook:

1 pound lean ground turkey
1/2 t olive oil
2 t chili powder
1 t cumin
1 1/2 C Salsa
1 1/2 C black beans, canned
8 large whole wheat tortillas
2 C lettuce, torn
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 C onion, chopped
Optional: Cheese, jalapenos, more Salsa, or Tabasco

What to do after you have everything ready to go:

In a medium pan, brown the ground turkey in the olive oil. If you used the lean turkey, you may or may not have to drain. If there's more than a couple tablespoons of fat in the pan, drain. Add the chili powder and cumin and stir to incorporate it with the meat. I use about twice this amount as I like more flavor. If you are not used to Tex-Mex flavors, start with the amounts listed above. You can always add more later. Add about 1 C of the salsa and stir it up well. If it looks too dry, add more salsa. Simmer about 10-12 minutes. You'll need to stir a lot because the mixture will be thick. If it is too runny, you'll just have a mess when you put it inside a tortilla. Taste and adjust the seasonings.

Once the meat is simmering, place the drained and rinsed can of black beans in a small pan and add about 1/2 C of salsa. Simmer. You can add more seasonings if you like - pepper, chili powder, cumin, garlic are all great additions.

Put the chopped lettuce, tomatoes, and onion on a pretty plate or in individual bowls.

Let everyone make their own Sanchos at the table. Those that don't calorie count can add cheese, but it really is not necessary for a good flavor. Those that like it spicy can add Tabasco or salsa. Or you could set out slices of jalapeno. A good variation here is to skip the black beans and heat up some frijoles mixed with salsa. Both ways with beans are great inside a tortilla with the turkey.

Serve with a 2006 Clos de Dougent Grand Cru. :D