Friday, April 3, 2009

Balsamic Veggie Quesadillas



Last weekend when I was visiting my parents in Cincinnati, they took me out to lunch at Unos. I wanted to get something healthy, and the roasted vegetable quesadilla looked pretty good. It tasted great, but it was a bit oily. I decided to look up the nutritional info when I got home. Well, the servings per quesadilla are 3 at 300 calories and 13 g. of fat each, so my whole quesadilla was 900 calories and 39 g. of fat! I knew I could lighten it up, and so that was the plan for tonight. The SuperFood featured in this, however, was something I added - Spinach! The spinach helps bulk up the vegetables to fill the quesadilla more. I also added tofu in the cheese spread to add some protein and to bulk it up without adding so much fat and calories.
I think the end result was fantsatic, and much healthier!
This recipe makes 4 quesadillas, at around 300 calories each. The tortillas I used were low carb, high fiber mission at 80 calories each.

Balsamic Veggie Quesadillas

4 whole wheat tortillas
Vegetable filling:
1 medium zucchini, sliced
1 medium summer squash, sliced
1 small red onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 c. white button mushrooms, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
2 c. packed baby spinach
salt and pepper
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

Spread:
4 oz. organic goat cheese
10 sun dried tomato pieces, reconstituted in hot water
2 tbsp. grated parmesan cheese
2 oz. soft tofu
10 basil leaves
Salt and pepper
Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat.
Add 1 tbsp. EVOO, zucchini, squash, onion, garlic and bell pepper. Sautee' for 10 minutes, or until vegetables have sweat out all of their moisture. Season with salt and pepper, again, cook out the liquid the salt draws out.
While veggies sweat out, put all spread ingredients in a food processor.
Pulse until the ingredients are combined and make a spread.
Set aside.
Add spinach and toss, again, cook out all of the liquid.
Turn heat to high, add balsamic vinegar, glaze veggies, turn heat off.
Preheat a large nonstick skillet to medium heat. Spray with nonstick spray.
Lay out tortillas, add 1/4 of the spread to each, top each with 1/4 of the veggies.
Fold over, place in the skillet. Cook for 4-5 minutes, flip and cook for another 4-5 minutes, or until golden brown.
Serve with sour cream and sprinkle with cayenne.

SuperFoods: Spinach, Onions, Garlic
Sidekicks: Zucchini, Summer Squash, Red Bell Pepper

3 comments:

cookingkatie said...

Those look great!

Elyse said...

I love that you health-ified this recipe! Looks totally delicious. I love adding tofu and spinach to all of my meals, when I can. I've been wilting spinach a bunch lately, and really adding it to everything. I can't wait to try it out in your veggie quesadilla!!

Ekta said...

I also ate the same Quesadillas at Unos and wanted to try it our ever since. When I saw your recipe - I decided that it has to be today. And so I made it yesterday with changes to vegetables/cheeses used. The creation of a spread was very nice and gave a nice filling.