I spend a lot of time in this house feeding people. And by the time dinner rolls around the last thing that I want to do is go back into the kitchen and prepare a hot dinner!!!! So the quicker the dinner, the better. Now in summer one of my favourite and healthiest dinners is a quick wrap. Salad, tuna or simple ham and cheese. But now that the weather is getting cooler I’ve decided that quesadillas will replace wraps. Plus it sounds so much more exotic. Do you want a wrap or do you want a quesadillaaaaaaa?
Now it’s been a while since I’ve made them. The last time was when I made Pioneer Woman’s chicken quesadillas here. Now for the adults I’ve made a vegetarian quesadilla using one of my favourite combinations. Spinach and feta. And these which taste so much like my favourite gozleme that I just needed some lemon wedges. And for the kids? The good old ham, cheese and pineapple. Hawaiian quesadilla. You can’t go wrong with that combination when it comes to kids.
Emerson has been really sick with an ear infection so I prepared this dinner with him in a sling on me (not a good idea if you want to take a photo at the same time). Then I passed him on to retro daddy and I got stuck into frying them up. And they are so easy! A couple of packets of tortillas, some basic ingredients, a frypan and you’re all set! And retro daddy (always the accountant) was working out the cost of the dinner and it’s budget friendly too. Especially if you picked up the tortillas on special like he did.
- 2 packets tortillas (I went for a medium size)
- ham
- cheese slices or grated cheddar
- pineapple rings
- small box frozen spinach
- 200g danish feta
- salt, pepper
- jar of salsa (optional)
- take a tortilla and lay it on a plate, top with cheese, ham and a pineapple ring. Top with another tortilla.
- Heat up a frypan with about a tablespoon of oil. When hot lay in the tortilla and move it around the fry pan to soak up the oil.
- Fry a couple of minutes on one side, when golden (not burnt!) turn it over and if you need to add a dash more oil.
- Turn onto a plate and cut into quarters. Serve with salsa if you like
- For the spinach and feta version, place spinach in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for a few minutes until defrosted.
- Place spinach in a clean teatowel and wring out the excess liquid.
- Tip out spinach into a clean bowl, add in feta and mix with a fork. Season well.
- Divide mixture amongst 3 tortillas and spread out towards the edges. Top with another tortilla and fry each up in a little bit of oil.
- They only need a couple of minutes on each side and you might have to turn down the heat if they start to burn a little. And keep adding a little oil (you could also use butter if you prefer) before you start another quesadilla.
- Enjoy. I know this will become a favourite in your house.
Hi Corrie, looks really delicious and am going to try this for lunch today. Was wondering rather than frying them, do you think I could put them in a sandwich press? Hope you’re having a great day.
Engracia
xx
yes! someone just said on my FB page to do in sandwich press! clearly I don’t own one! but go for it and tell me what you think. I would put the oil on the tortillas (the side that will go down in the press) just to make them nicer:)
hello, first time commenter here…. i always use my sandwich press to make quesadillas. it works perfectly – and because there is no flipping there is no chance of spilling the filling either. i have never used oil on the tortillas and they come out great.
oh fabulous! thank you! I definitely need a sandwich press then:)
Me too…use the sandwich press all the time for quesadillas..works great!
you most certainly do!!! They are a God send!
Hi Corrie
Tried it with and without oil and it worked a treat, I didn’t notice any difference between those with or without oil, so in future will be doing them without, just a bit healthier and still as toasty.
Engracia
xx
We have burritos at our house pretty much every week and if there is any of the meat left I make quesadillas. Just a little smear of lite sour cream and/or avocado, a squirt of sriracha (lovely hot chilli sauce from the asian grocer), the meat and a sprinkle of grated cheese. We do the fold over method in a dry pan, lovely!
Sadly as we are 6 for dinner most burrito nights, including 3 hardworking men and 2 enormous lads, this is become a rare thing…. I already cook 1kg of mince and really don’t want to move up to 1.5 just for leftovers!
I have all that ahead of me, 5 kids all grown up! big food bill!!!!!! sounds delicious what you do with them folded over. My kids just love mexican
Hi ‘retro mum’, cool blog. Nice to see what’s happening in the world of blogging. I’m a ‘pre-gran’ ie, my daughters are married but no children –yet–!
I found your blog by checking out the Bendigo Woollen mill site.
It is so nice to look at and see what is happening in the lives of young mums. I have younger siblings with five year olds and have also been a midwife for many years and have had a lot of experience through the years, personally, professionally and as a volunteer for a breastfeeding group. It is so nice to see sensible women with young children enjoying life.
I checked out some of the comments you made re’mum wars’. You are very sensible. We are all in this together and it profits no one by setting us up against each other– mum against mum, generation against generation. There is much wisdom and love and respect to be shared and a great deal of joy to be had.
Keep up the lovely work, treasure the babies and family time and be kind to each other… My mantra I suppose.
They look delicious! I’ll be giving these a try out later in the week
Yum! We use leftover taco mince the next night on queasadillas. I just spread the mince out, sprinkle on some cheese and sweet chilli sauce (my kids really like it) and put them in the sandwich press. So quick everybody likes them. Sometimes I give the kids yoghurt or homemade guacamole to dip them in. Think I will have to try that ham, cheese and pineapple one for them too!
Yum, I first saw these on a Jamie Oliver show years ago. We make a nice one with Coriander, parsley, green shallots, birds eye chillies, tasty, parmasan and mozzarella cheese. Yum Yum. You would probably want to leave out the chillies though if the littlies were going to eat them
I’m hopeless at actually making dinner so this would be perfect! Thanks for sharing.
Bettina
http://www.littleoldsouls.com
Would they work as well with fresh spinach? This might be a great healthy lunch idea for work, thanks Corrie.
Spinach and cheese! Yuuuum! I hadn’t thought of that. I made some last week to test out some corn tortillas i bought on a gluten free shopping blitz. I made the filling in the thermie thingy, i wizzed up leftover grilled chicken, red capsicums, jalapenos, coriander, and all the odds and ends of cheese sitting in the fridge and freezer. All stuff that would’ve been chucked in a day or two. Very man friendly and kid friendly. I will try your spinach and cheese combo this week – i think they’re our new friday night dinner.
Thanks for reminding me about these! Dinners are a struggle in our house – a 6 year old who seems to live on fresh air, a 4 year old who can’t eat enough and an increasingly fussy nearly 2 year old. Needless to say we eat a lot of mince and sausages to keep people happy, but it’s SO boring! Our big boy likes tacos with just mince and cheese, so I might try grilling them instead for him and having more adventurous fillings for the rest of us. I can always trust retromummy for food inspiration!!
As an aside, I would love to hear of your experience with Emerson’s birth. We are expecting number four and like you I’ve only had c-section deliveries. Whilst my obstetrician assures me my innards do not look like a patchwork quilt falling apart at the seams, I would love to hear the perspective of someone who has been sliced and diced a few times!! I’ve always had very quick, easy and painless recoveries but for some reason I’m paranoid this time will be the straw that will break the camel’s back!!
I’ve just found out how awesome tortillas are. And like a commenter above I’ve been cooking them in the sandwich press, ingenious!
Will be trying your spinach and feta for sure!
I had to giggle at this, the 3 boys have just polished off a batch after an afternoon at the zoo today! although their fave is ham and cheese and thai sweet dipping sauce. gourmets that they are. your spinach and feta ones look fab! the best thing about tortilla wraps is they last FOREVER. I have found half used packs in the breadbin to be savours. x
Oh quesadillas, where have you been all my life? I tired these for the first time today, and my fussy girls loved the ham, cheese and pineapple ones (so did I!)
My hubsand made cooked egg and bacon ones with cheese. I am so trying cheese and spinach next time, they sound great. Thanks for a new easy, quick and yummy recipe to add to my repertoire.
I Haven’t made these for ages! Thanks for reminding me about this meal.
They remind me of Gozleme too.
I used to live in sydney and go to flemington markets for Gozleme OFTEN.
Now living on the Gold Coast I would love to know where to get my hands on one! Anyone?
OH I’m a huge gozleme fan! let me ask on facebook if anyone knows:)