Delicious and simple, here is an upgrade to your favorite “scramble” meal of quesadillas for dinner. Black beans, corn, cream cheese and chili powder make for a tasty filling! Cook it up on a griddle and you’ve got an easy meal the family will love in minutes!
February has been a brutal month of sickness for my family. Flu, colds, fevers, stomach pain, all sorts of awful stuff. Ugh! Admittedly, while I was sick, I let my husband do all the cooking. But when I’m well and taking care of sick children, I still try to make good balanced meals.
One of the meals I made this month was these Black Bean & Corn Quesadillas. I know that quesadillas are a classic scramble meal when we forget to think about dinner before dinner time. But if you are filling a tortilla with cheese only, you end up eating a whole lot of cheese, which is not the healthiest option. Consider this an upgrade on the classic quesadilla dinner.
You can make this with or without chicken. It’s very filling wither way. Start with a large fry pan on the stove. Heat up your garlic, add in the frozen corn and let it cook for a few minutes. Open a can of black beans and rinse them off, them dump them in the pan with the corn. Add in your chili powder, cumin and cream cheese and stir to combine, heat through. This whole process takes less than 10 minutes and you have a perfect and tasty quesadilla filling.
Cook these quesadillas on a large griddle, heated to 250°-300° and you can fit 3 or 4 on at a time so dinner will be ready to serve in about 20 minutes. Serve up with salsa, avocado and a few chips.
For the kids, I separated things out a little. I made them a simple cheese quesadilla with their corn and beans on the side. This isn’t a spicy dish, so for my older girl, I made her 1 cheese triangle and 1 triangle with the bean mixture inside. The meal was well received as they were able to try things without being overwhelmed.
A few tips—be sure to use “No Added Salt” black beans to cut down on the sodium in this meal. It makes a significant difference and you really don’t lose any flavor. Also, I recommend weighing out the cheese to make sure you know how much you are using. Cheese is a heavy hitter, and more is definitely not better. It’ll take over and all you’ll taste is the cheese.
The Meal:
1 quesadilla (10” tortilla, ¾ cup bean mixture, 1 ½ oz cheese)
½ avocado
¾ oz chips
3 Tbsp salsa
Recipe Used in this meal:
Black Bean & Corn Quesadillas
Serving size: 1 quesadilla
Servings per Recipe: 6
Ingredients
3 tsp minced garlic
3 cups corn (frozen)
2 cans black beans (no added salt)
½ tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder
4 oz cream cheese
6 large tortillas (10”)
9 oz shredded cheddar cheese
Cooking spray
Directions
Spray a large frypan with cooking spray and heat. Add garlic and corn and cook for 2 minutes.
Drain and rinse the black beans. Add to the corn mixture. Add cumin and chili powder and stir to combine. Add cream cheese and heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring.
Heat griddle to 300°. Assemble quesadillas. Lay out tortillas, and divide cheese on each one. Add ¾ cup of corn and bean mixture over the cheese. Spread to edges and fold in half.
Cook the quesadillas on a large griddle, until the tortillas are browned and cheese is melted. Slice each into 4 triangles with a pizza cutter and serve hot.
Nutrition Facts Label for Entire Meal:
Nutrition Facts Label for Black Bean & Corn Quesadillas:
