Veggie Quesadillas with quick Salsa & Guacamole

Hola foodies, hope you all are having a great weekend! Today, I will be sharing one of my favorite and easiest Mexican recipes of all time - Veggie Quesadillas with quick Salsa and Guacamole. It is one of the simplest and classic Mexican dishes that you can try to start your journey for the Mexican comidas (foods) or simply further your quest...

So what are Quesadillas? Originated from Mexico, the name Quesadillas come from Spanish word Queso means cheese and it literally translates to "cheesy little things". Traditionally the tortillas are toasted with melted cheese and sautéd vegetable or meat. I usually buy tortillas from the store as you can get many varieties that suits your need. In a quest to make this dish healthy, I try to buy whole wheat tortillas. You can also find them prepared from white flour, corn flour, or mix grains. This time I brought whole wheat tortilla with chia seeds. I love making these for my kid as I can add all sorts of veggies and sometimes beans too. These get eaten without any complains as they taste so yummm especially when I layer them with cheese! 

 

Mexican meal is incomplete without Salsa, Guacamole and tortilla chips. No matter which Mexican dish I make, I always have these sides to make a complete dish. The combination of Salsa, Guac and crunchy tortilla chips is just something that I can never get enough of. So, I will also share a quick Salsa and Guacamole recipe to make with Quesadillas. I do have a special recipe if I am making them for a party or for guests. I will keep that recipe for some other time. :) 

Most of all the health benefits come from the cheese and the type of veggies added to make the quesadillas. Cheese is healthy if eaten in moderation as it provides much needed calcium and protein to our bodies. Typically when I am preparing Mexican meal, I choose to go with four cheese Mexican blend (mix of Monterey jack, Cheddar, Asadero and Queso quesadilla cheese) which gives so much more flavor to the food. Veggies, as as you may know, have abundance of nutrients and are low in calories and fats. 

                         

Additional notes/ tips

• Any assortment of veggies can be used for stuffing. In my opinion, the vegetables that taste best in Quesadillas are corn, spinach, mushrooms, squash, zucchini, broccoli, carrots, colorful peppers, onions, etc...
• Cheese is an essential ingredient for this recipe. However, if you wish to keep this recipe vegetarian, you would want to pick some vegetarian cheese. A lot of cheese brands use enzymes from animal rennet in making cheese, so look for vegetarian rennet or microbial rennet on the ingredients label of the cheese.

Let's get started with this simple yet delicious Veggie Quesadillas with quick Salsa & Guacamole recipe...

Serves 4

Prepare time 10 minutes

Cook time 20 minutes

Ingredients 

For Quesadillas

1 Pack Tortillas (6 ct)

1 Cup cheese

1/4 Cup Vegenaise (optional)

1/2 Corn (Boiled)

1 Medium Zucchini

1/2 Green pepper

1/2 Red pepper

1 Tbsp cumin powder

1 Tsp oregano

1 Tsp black pepper powder 

2 Tbsp Oil for grilling vegetables

Oil for toasting Quesadillas 

Salt to taste

For 5 minute Salsa (Mild)

2 Medium tomatoes

1 Small red onion

1 Small bunch cilantro

1/2 Tsp Oregano (Prefer Mexican oregano)

1/4 Tsp Black pepper powder

1/2 Lemon

Salt to taste

For 2 minute Guacamole 

1 Medium Avocado

1/2 Lemon

1 Tbsp salsa 

Salt to taste

Instructions

Evenly dice all the vegetables listed above for Quesadillas, i.e. red and green bell peppers and zucchini. Remove corn kernel from the cob.  

Heat up oil in a pan and add all the diced vegetables and corn, and sauté them for about a minute. 

         

Add salt, cumin powder, black pepper powder and oregano. Mix everything well.

 

Sauté the vegetables for 4-5 minutes until they turn slightly brown. Turn off the heat and transfer the veggies to a bowl. Let the stuffing cool down. 

While the veggies are cooling down, let's quickly make the Salsa and Guacamole. 

To make Salsa, roughly chop tomatoes, onions and cilantro. Add them to the chopper along with salt, pepper, oregano and lemon juice. 

Chop everything finely and voila Salsa is ready. Transfer into a bowl and garnish with lemon slice and cilantro. 

To make Guacamole, cut the avocado to half and de-seed it. Roughly chop avocado and add to the chopper along with salt, lemon juice and one spoon of salsa you just prepared.

Since avocados are soft, when you run chopper they will turn into smooth creamy dip - Guacamole. Alternatively, you can also make Guacamole without a chopper. Just use a fork to smash the chopped avocados and mix the spices. Transfer in a bowl and garnish with avocado seed. The avocado seed also helps to keep the Guacamole from turning black. Quick 2-minute Guac is ready to serve!

Getting back to Quesadillas, once the stuffing has cooled down, spread vegenaise on the tortilla. Just spread on one half of the tortilla as shown in the picture below. This step is optional, if you don't have vegenaise, just skip to next step. However, I recommend adding vegenaise to make the Quesadillas creamy! 

Now spread the sautéd vegetables over the layer of vegenaise on the tortilla. Here you can add as thick of a layer of veggies as you desire.

Next generously spread cheese over the veggies. Again you can add as little or more cheese per your desire. 

Fold the tortilla and keep it aside. Repeat the same process on the rest of the tortillas.

Next heat up the pan on a medium flame. Drizzle about 1 tbsp of oil.

Place two of the folded tortillas on the pan as shown in the picture below. Toast them for about a minute or until the tortillas are nicely toasted with brown spots at the bottom. 

Flip them over to toast the other side. If you are comfortable, you can flip them inside the pan. Otherwise transfer them to a plate, flip them and slide back to the pan. 

                             

Again toast them for another minute to toast evenly. 

Transfer them to a plate and repeat the process with the rest of the folded tortillas. Slice them with a knife or cutter in your preferred shape.

Hot, cheesy and loaded with veggies Quesadillas are ready to eat. Serve them with tortilla chips, salsa and guacamole. 

Tomato Bisque Soup

Hi foodies, I am so excited to share my next recipe with you all today! It's been raining here in Texas for last few days and one of my most favorite food to eat on the rainy days is warm and comforting soup. I absolutely love Tomato Bisque soup for any meal of the day but especially on those gloomy dull days. I feel so lazy on the rainy days that I want to minimize my time in the kitchen. This warm soup can be made with a very few ingredients from the pantry and doesn't require a lot of efforts. The simple yet hearty soup is easy to prepare and can be enjoyed as an appetizer, a side or a meal in itself! 

So the first question that would arise in our mind is whether the Tomato Bisque soup is same as Tomato soup. The simple answer is No, these two are different. The Tomato Bisque has creamy, rich and velvety texture that is achieved by adding cream while the traditional Tomato soup doesn't use this key ingredient. The best part is you can make this soup vegan by just substituting the cream and butter with the full fat coconut milk and nut butter or oil, respectively. So anyone can enjoy this luscious soup without compromising on the texture. 

My family devours this soup every time I make it, and trust me, I make it very often as I am one of the biggest fan of tomatoes. Growing up, me and my sister both were fond of tomatoes so much that my mom had to buy surplus tomatoes for us every time she gets groceries. We would gobble down tomatoes as if they were apples! Even now my grocery would always include tomatoes and if I don't have it on my list my husband would get them for me just in case...

Since tomatoes are the star ingredient for today's recipe, let me first share some health benefits of eating tomatoes. According to various sources, tomatoes are full of antioxidants from Vitamin C,

 

specifically lycopene, which helps reduce risks of heart disease and cancer. Tomatoes are also an excellent source of vitamins and minerals like vitamin A, K1 and potassium. Vitamin A helps improve vision and skin while vitamin K is good for bones, and potassium helps control blood pressure. Also, tomatoes are low in calories and carbs and has almost zero fats!

So without further delay, let's get started with the recipe...

Tomato Bisque soup 

Serves 4-6

Prepare time 10 minutes

Cook time 15-20 minutes

Additional notes/ Tips

• There are two different ways you can make this warm delicious soup. You can either make it in an electric cooker or in a pressure cooker. I have made the soup using electric cooker but I will share the recipe for both. 
• You can use either fresh tomatoes or canned tomato puree. I have used canned tomato puree. If you are using fresh ripe tomatoes, then blanch them first by adding them to boiling water for about a minute. Run under cold water and peel the skin off. Next de-seed the tomatoes and dice them. This step requires additional 10 minutes.
• To reduce the amount of heavy cream, I have also added some soaked nuts. If you wish to go with just the cream, then double the cream quantity from the recipe. 
• You can easily make this soup vegan by adding full fat coconut milk (canned) instead of heavy cream. 
• Increase quantity of dried basil, if you don't have fresh sweet basil handy. 

Ingredients

1 Can tomato puree or sauce (28 oz)  

2 Medium carrots chopped

2 Sticks of celery chopped (optional)

1 Small or 1/2 Medium white onion chopped

1 Tbsp minced garlic

2 Tbsp olive oil or butter

Handful of fresh sweet basil leaves (optional)

1/4 Tsp dried basil

1/4 Tsp thyme (optional)

1/4 Tsp dried oregano

1/2 Tsp black pepper powder

1/4 Cup heavy cream

Handful of soaked cashews or almonds (soak for at least 30-45 minutes prior)

2 Cups of water or vegetable stock

1 Tbsp honey or sugar

Salt to taste

Instructions

Heat up oil or butter in the electric cooker or pressure cooker.

                                                     

Add chopped white onion and minced garlic. Saute for about a minute until raw smell of garlic is gone.

                                                     

Add carrots and celery (optional), saute for 2 minutes until onions turn translucent.

                                                         

Add Tomato puree or diced tomatoes, dried oregano, dried thyme, dried basil, salt, black pepper powder soaked nuts, and water or vegetable stock. 

         

Stir well, close the lid of the cooker. Set the electric cooker on pressure cook at high pressure for 9 minutes. If you are using pressure cooker, cook it for about 15-20 minutes and 4-5 whistles. 

Turn off the heat, and safely quick-release the pressure of the electric cooker. For traditional cooker, let the pressure release naturally.

Open the lid, stir in chopped sweet basil leaves, honey/sugar and heavy cream. Blend to a smooth puree using immersion blender.

Transfer soup to serving bowl and garnish with basil leaves and cream. Serve with toasted bread sticks.