Black Bean and Sweet Potato Quesadillas

This is what I think of an a “dump” recipe, my favorite kind.  You just dump the ingredients in a bowl, with no or very little measuring.   This quesadilla filling is a favorite with EM and me and there are several ways to vary it.   In this blog, I will always give credit when I know where the credit is due.  I used a stew recipe for inspiration when I made up this recipe, but have since seen a similar recipe posted on foodie blogs.   Isn’t it wonderful that recipes can’t be copyrighted?  Tomorrow, I'll post the stew recipe.  I had never had that combination of stew flavors and liked it.   The ingredients for the quesadilla filling are also things that you can keep on hand for a while. These things are basics for me. I hate having to make that extra run to the store.

(My apologies here for the lack of photos.  I haven’t learned how to load them yet at Blogspot AND I have lost my camera somewhere in this house!  Hope to have photographs someday!)

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Quesadillas

Microwave or bake 2 sweet potatoes

Rinse 1 can of black beans (I use reduced sodium beans, and also rinse to reduce sodium by another 1/3)

Cumin

½ c. to ¾ c. prepared salsa

Handful of shredded cheddar cheese

Tortilla shell

Roughly mash the sweet potato. Add the beans, salsa, and cumin, and mix.   Put one shell in a hot skillet, sprayed with Pam.  Put the sweet potato/bean mixture on the shell. Top with cheese.   Put second shell on top.  When the cheese begins to melt, flip the quesadilla until the shell is lightly browned.   Cut into 4 sections.  Save the leftovers for me!

Variation:

Put the filling in a casserole, minus the cheese. Put the cheese on top and bake in the oven.  This is a good potluck dish.

Tips to lower sodium:

• Corn tortilla shells are very low in sodium; flour shells are much higher.
• A fruit based recipe usually is lower in sodium.  I use a mango-peach salsa in his recipe.  For example, look for recipes for the peach salsa-topped chicken breasts, rather than the marinara-sauce topped chicken breasts.
• Almost all pre-prepared foods are high in sodium.
• Swiss cheese is lower in sodium that other cheeses.
• Rapunzel Vegetable Bouillon, no salt added, can be used instead of chicken broth, with is very high in sodium.
• Soy sauce is extremely high in sodium.  Substitute Kikkoman Ponzu Citrus Seasoned Dressing and Sauce (360 mg sodium/tablespoon) for soy sauce (950 mg sodium/tablespoon).  Then try to half the sauce that the recipe calls for.  You’ve now reduced the sodium of the recipe by 5/6ths!
• The down side – once you get used to lower sodium, it will ruin you for eating fast food.  The KFC will taste VERY salty!
• You can also reduce salt in baked recipes.  When I reduce the salt, it makes the baked goods taste much sweeter, so I’ve wondered if I could further reduce the sugar, but I have not seriously researched it.
• Vinegars!  If you like vinegars, they are a healthy way to add zip to your recipes.  I use roasted garlic rice vinegar, balsamic vinegars.  There is a whole world of amazing vinegars that I have not yet started exploring.

Tomorrow, I will post the Fiesta Stew, classy enough to serve company and yummy enough to hope some of your company doesn’t show so you’ll have more for yourself!

You cannot even imagine how much I struggled with spelling "quesadilla"!  I must have looked it up 5 times!