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Thursday, August 6, 2009

Basic Cooking Skills: Quesadillas

Every other Thursday we will post about different basic cooking skills. Knowing how to prepare meals from scratch is a very important step in becoming self-reliant, which in turn is a crucial component of being prepared. Being able to cook meals for your family will give you confidence, more family togetherness time, and lower your food budget=more money for food storage! If you have a basic cooking skill you'd like to learn, email us! These meals contain perishable food items as this is a different series than our food storage recipes.

Granted I have been making quesadillas all my life, it's a classic snack and quickly became a common meal in college. My grocery list consisted of: cereal, milk, tortillas, sharp cheddar cheese, salsa and Mike 'n Ikes. Just because I love them. But Rachael Ray made a quesadilla once (I saw her do it on the tube) and it made so much more sense than the way I had always done it. And it's perfect every time.

Heat up a skillet over medium high heat and toast ONE side of the tortilla.



When the ONE side of the tortilla is nice and toasty brown, flip it over.



Now cheese. You can use ANY kind of cheese in a quesadilla, and add ANY type of toppings to make a quesadilla from a snack into a meal (think black beans or cooked chicken) but here's one thing I'm not going to fudge on: shred your own cheese! Not only is it cheaper to buy cheese in the block, but the cheese is fluffier when you grate it and it melts nicer. More nicely. Nicerly.



So, on the toasted side of the tortilla, sprinkle freshly grated cheese over HALF of the tortilla.



With a spatula, flip the un-cheesy side over onto the cheesy side. Look! The other side is toasty now!




Cook until the cheese is melted and bubbly inside.




Remove said quesadilla to a cutting board




Slice into wedges with a sharp knife or a pizza cutter!




Cheese quesadillas are a super lunch idea, especially for kids who like to eat the "slices." Or have a quesadilla buffet (Brittany's idea) and have all sorts of difference toppings and serve them for dinner.

5 comments:

Country Cookin' Mama said...

My kids love these! They like to call them pizza, I don't really care what they call them as long as they eat them! They also like to eat them dipped in ranch dressing, which is something that we always have in food storage!

Anonymous said...

We really like having black bean quesadillas for dinner--add some black beans in with the cheese and some salsa. We cook ours in the oven for 10-15 minutes until done. I serve with sides of spanish rice (rice cooked in chicken broth with some salsa added in as part of the liquid) and cooked frozen/canned corn. I also make chicken and cheese quesadillas.

Welcome to the Garden of Egan said...

Yum! I love quesidillas. They are easy. I didn't know that about cheese. Thanks for the tip.

Overindulgent Student said...

These look great. One fantastic tip my brother helped me discover: Costco sells these AWESOME tortillas that are not yet cooked. You throw them in a pan, watch them bubble up, and you have "homemade" tortillas. They add almost no time to queso-making and they freeze well! So with me using canned salsa, frozen shredded chicken, and these frozen uncooked tortillas, it is great for my 3-month supply. I LOVE THEM. I don't think I'll ever go back to storebought again! I love your method of cooking quesadillas! I will have to try those to!!!

http://overindulgent.blogspot.com

Flashlight Girl said...

kick those basic quesadillas up a notch by spreading a thin layer of cream cheese on your tortilla before you add the shredded cheese. So good.