Danged Quesadillas

One of the nice things about having small group at my house every week is that I get to try out new recipes on people who just might eat them, as opposed to my husband. The man I married seems to be one of those weird folks who are often distrustful of homemade. Let me give you an example - for the Super Bowl party on Sunday I made homemade oreos and then served up a second batch this evening. Martin loves oreos, though they apparently have to come from a store before he'll eat them. Mine are better but he'll never know that fact since he bypasses them for whatever store-bought item is on the table. This evening, I made a lot of stuff for our group but wouldn't you know that the one thing hubby dearest kept eating was the Stater Brothers lemon bread loaf I grabbed at the last minute before heading out to Bible Study this morning.

What Martin eschewed others seemed to enjoy. Dave S. told me the cookies reminded him of a variation of Amish whoopie pies. Lori couldn't believe they were homemade and Joanne ate her fair share and then took some home to Jack. Very gratifying to watch my foods actually be consumed - even with that lemon loaf sitting on the plate in all it's practically neon glory.

Emily gave me the idea for my other hit food tonight when she mentioned making greek quesadillas from the Annie's Eats cooking blog. I'd debated whether to make these for small group - not because I didn't trust my daughter's review of how good they tasted but because I was worried about the timing issue of keeping them warm. Turns out the warming tray Tim gave me last Christmas was perfect for keeping my danged quesadillas nice and warm throughout the evening.

This is how easy it was to assemble the quesadillas: I had prepped all the ingredients earlier in the day, thinking I'd wait til about a half hour before actually stuffing and cooking the tortillas. Just as I went to grab them from the refrigerator Mike walked into the house and sat down at one of the bar stools. One thing I normally do NOT like is having people watch me while I cook. This is especially true for a new recipe. That being said, these quesadillas went together so nice and easy that I could've taped my own cooking show, based on the smooth flow of assembling, cooking and cutting up my quesadillas. Mike watched the whole process and, when he finally realized these were for our group and not dinner I was going to make and wolf down before the appointed hour of our small group, he expressed genuine delight that he'd get to eat them. Sometimes food choice for Mike can be a big deal because he's a conscientious diabetic who watches what he eats. So last week, when the designated food person brought only donuts he seemed a bit sad. For all that he didn't eat of those sugary sweets, he was definitely downing the quesadillas, as well as a small veggie and dip tray I had on hand.

Having had dental surgery yesterday, I haven't been eating much of anything. Too much pain every time I try to chew anything harder than a milkshake. For the quesadillas I made an exception though as they were soft enough and certainly tasty enough to make me want to try ever so gingerly biting into them. Every fresh tasting, yummy bite was worth the effort. I loved the taste and it seemed that people in my small group agreed with me regarding how good these quesadillas were. Well, everyone not counting my husband, that is. He was busy scarfing down unnaturally yellow pieces of lemon loaf.

Greek Quesadillas

4 large (10 inch) whole wheat tortillas
olive oil
fresh spinach leaves, chopped (about 2 cups)
diced red onion (about 1/2 cup)
roasted red peppers chopped
oven dried tomatoes (Emily and I both decided the oven dried step was more commitment than we wanted for a quesadilla so we both used the tiny grape tomatoes, cut in half.)
sliced black olives
mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 1 1/2 cups)
crumbled feta cheese (about 2/3 cup)
oregano (dried or fresh)
red pepper flakes (I didn't use these and mine tasted fine)

Place tortillas on a work surface. Very lightly brush one side of each tortilla wiht the olive oil and flip over so the oiled side is facing down. Sprinkle the chopped spinach leaves over half of each tortilla, leaving a small rim around the edge. Layer in similar fashion with red onion, roasted red pepper, tomatoes, olives, cheeses, oregano and red pepper flakes, as desired. Fold over the bare half of each tortilla, enclosing the fillings.

Warm a skillet or grill over medium high heat and if needed, lightly oil the cooking surface. Carefully place assembled quesadillas in the pan and cook, turning once, until each side is golden brown and the cheese is melted. Slice into triangles and serve warm.