Let’s say that you and your boyfriend are going to a city council meeting one night, and you’re both working basically right up to the time it starts. Do you A. Go to the grocery store and buy things for dinner which would probably consist of pasta, and a jar of sauce B. Pick up something on the way to the meeting or C. Think about the hodgepodge of ingredients in your refrigerator on your drive home from work, throw this together in 45 minutes and then watch your boyfriend inhale an entire quesadilla in the 5 minutes he’s home before you both have to leave for the council meeting, knowing that it’s made of almost completely healthy things?
C. If this town could run itself as efficiently as this recipe came together, it would be a whole new world.
BLACK BEAN, ACORN SQUASH, KALE & CHEDDAR JACK QUESADILLAS (serves 2-4)
– 1/2 an acorn squash, sliced
– 1 15 oz can of black beans, rinsed and drained
– 2 cups kale, ribs removed, torn into pieces
– 1/2 vidalia onion, really thinly sliced
– 1/3 shredded jack cheese
– 4 flour tortillas
– 1 tbsp. butter
– 1 tbsp. EVOO
– kosher salt & pepper
1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. Carefully (these are really hard), with a serrated knife, cut the acorn squash into strips. Rub the cut sides with a little olive oil.
3. Place acorn squash on a baking sheet, roast for about 30 minutes, flipping sides around halfway through.
4. Thinly slice an onion, then cook it over medium heat in 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp. EVOO until it soften and starts to caramelize.
5. When squash is roasted, remove the skin and chop into pieces.
6. Add kale to the pan with the onions. Cover and cook, stirring often, until wilted. Remove from the heat.
7. Get out 1 quesadilla. Sprinkle a little of the grated cheese on that. Then, mash about half of the squash and top it with half of the beans, kind of pressing them into the squash. Add some of the kale and onion mixture, then a little more of the grated cheese (that way it melts on both sides). Top with a second quesadilla, then spread that with a tiny bit of butter.
8. Cook the assembled quesadilla in a nonstick pan for approx. 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown and cooked through. Cut into triangles and serve with a side of avocado crema. Even my vegan mom loved these!
— Also, especially if you’re a NEPA resident, please check out Friends of Lackawanna, a non-profit consisting of “a group of private citizens dedicated to protecting our community from the environmental and health hazards of the proposed Phase III Expansion plan for the Keystone Sanitary Landfill.” https://www.facebook.com/friendsoflackawanna