CEiMB: Easy Chicken-Mushroom Quesadillas

This week I got to pick the recipe for Craving Ellie in my Belly. A while ago I saw this recipe by Ellie for Easy Chicken-Mushroom Quesadillas on Foodnetwork and since I was in the mood for Mexican food I thought this would be the perfect time to try it!

The recipe was put together quite easily. I bought presliced mushrooms, pulled defrosted chicken out of the fridge (I always buy chicken when it's on sale, cook and shred it, portion it and pop it into the freezer), and started cooking: dinner was served within 15 minutes!

I slightly undercooked the mushrooms by accident, they could have used a bit more time.
Instead of topping one tortilla with the filling and another tortilla I topped half the tortilla and flipped the other half over the filling: this made it much easier to flip over the quasadilla in the pan without major loss of content.

I served the quesadilla with some salsa and sour cream, as suggested by Ellie.
In my opinion this recipe is another keeper: easy to make and tastes great. The cumin, oregano and chili powder work great together. Next time I might just add some fresh cilantro into the mix, I love that stuf!! I ate two halfs, so actually 2 servings according to Ellie.
Overall: two thumbs up!!

One tiny detail.... I got to enjoy this dish again later last night due to heartburn. Luckily for me this was quickly sorted by taking one of the Rolaid Chews that I brought home with me on my last trip to Canada. That stuff really works fast!! I'm not quite sure what caused the heartburn this time, maybe it was the salsa, the chili powder or the cumin....

Easy Chicken-Mushroom Quesadillas

4 servings

Ingredients

1 tbsp canola oil

1 large onion, chopped (about 2 cups)

8 ounces white button mushrooms, sliced (about 3 cups)

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups cooked chopped skinless, boneless chicken breast (1 breast half)

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp dried oregano

2 cups baby spinach leaves, sliced into ribbons

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

4 (10-inch) whole gran flour tortillas

1 cup shredded Mexican cheese mix or cheddar

1/2 cup salsa

1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream

Directions

Heat the oil in a large skillet over a medium heat. Add the onions and mushrooms and cook until the mushroom water is evaporated and they begin to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add chicken, cumin, chili powder and oregano and stir until all spices are incorporated. Add spinach, salt and pepper and cook until spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes.

Lay 1 tortilla on a flat work surface and sprinkle with 1/4 cup shredded cheese. Spoon 1/2 cup chicken and vegetable mixture on top of cheese, then top with an additional 1/4 cup cheese. Top with another flour tortilla.

Heat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray over medium heat. Carefully place 1 quesadilla in pan and cook 3 minutes. Using a large spatula, gently flip the quesadilla and cook an additional 3 minutes until lightly browned and cheese is melted. Repeat with second quesadilla.

Slice each quesadilla into quarters. Place two quarters on a plate with 1 tablespoon sour cream and 2 tablespoons salsa.

Check out what my fellow Ellie-istas thought of this recipe here.

Up next:

October 29th: Pumpkin Pie Muffins (pg 21), hosted by Oddball Oven Mitt

November 5th: Linguini with Shrimp (pg 160-161), hosted by Confessions of a Novice Baker

CEiMB: Black Bean Mexican Pizza

This weeks CEiMB has sent me looking all over town for one special ingredient... Black beans! Joanne of Apple Crumbles picked Black Bean Mexican Pizza, since I love both Mexican food and Pizza I knew I was in for a treat!

Apparently black beans are not eaten a lot in the Northern European cuisine. I wasn't able to track these down at the regular supermarket and even the Turkish supermarket that I go to for 'special ingredients' didn't have any canned black beans, just dried black beans so that's what I bought. I soaked about 200 grams of beans in some water overnight and cooked them for about 30 to 40 minutes the next day after which I made the black bean dip.

I topped each tortilla with black bean dip, tomato pieces and some grated cheese and popped them into the oven. When they were done I topped them with cilantro and lettuce and servedthem with sour cream. Yum!! Absolutely delicious, I will absolutely be making these again!!!

Go here to check out what the other Ellie-istas thought of this recipe!

P.S. I just now found out that I screwed up the dates for the recipes, this was actually last weeks recipe... Oops....

Hot Hot Hot Enchiladas + being nervous

Last week my mom was out of town: she was volunteering at a horseback riding camp for people with disabilities, both mental and/or physical. So I decided to cook for my dad on Thursday and made him these Enchiladas that I found over at Jessica's blog What's Cooking in the Orange Kitchen.



I must say these tasted good, but the dish was way to hot for both my and my dad. I love my food spicy, but this was too much. Next time I make this I won't use one whole tablespoon of chilipowder, I'll probably start with a teaspoon. Other than the dish being too spicy it tasted great.



Right now I'm feeling a bit anxious about going back to work tomorrow. I found out last Thursday that a guy I knew growing up will be on my floor for a month, he'll be benchmarking our financial department that happens to be on the same floor that I work. This guy was very cute back in those days (although he was not my type as he has blond hair and I wasn't even paying attention to boys back then) and according to my colleague he still is, he was at work last Wednesday on my day off.


The last time I saw I was 12 years younger and 40 kilos lighter. It's not like we were best friends, but our dads were in the same Lions Club, we played field hockey at the same club and we were youth leaders at an International Youth Exchange Camp in Holland for 10 days for which we had to do lots of preparation together and stay on site for 1 days. Do you think I'm being silly to be so nervous about seeing him again tomorrow?

Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup

The weather is turning colder and more autumn-like here, leaves are starting to fall the trees and every day it gets dark earlier... For me this means it's time for more wintery meals, like a nicely filled, hearty and spicy soup. Browing around I found this recipe for a Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup at For the love of cooking, ofcourse I adapted it a bit and only made half, but that was still more than enough for 3 big bowls of soup.


Shredded Chicken
1 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of any fat
1,5 cups of chicken broth or water
1,5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp sweet yellow onion, diced finely (I used red onion, cause that's what I had)
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and gently boil for 20 minutes. Let the chicken breasts cool then shred with two forks.

Soup
1 tsp olive oil
1 cups of onion, diced
1/2 cup of celery, diced
1 cups of carrots, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped (more if you want it really spicy)
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 1/4 quarts of chicken stock
1 400 gr (14 oz) can of crushed tomatoes
1 300 gr (10 oz) can of corn
1/2 tsp of cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander seed
sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
1/4 a cup of fresh cilantro, chopped (divided)
3 fresh white corn tortillas

Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Once hot, add onions and sauté until tender. Add the garlic and stir constantly for 60 seconds. Add the carrots, celery, jalapeno, tomatoes, corn, broth, cumin, coriander, sea salt and pepper to taste and 1/8 cup of cilantro.

Cut the 3 corn tortillas in half, then cut them crosswise into 1/2 inch strips and add to the soup. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and the corn tortillas have melted away. Add the chicken, taste and re season if needed.

Corn tortilla strips
2 corn tortillas
olive oil
Sea salt
Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius (400 F). Grease the baking sheet with olive oil . Rub in a little olive oil on each side of all the tortillas & lay in a pile. Cut into thin strips & spread across the baking dish then season with sea salt. Bake in the oven until golden brown - watch them carefully because they burn easily. It usually takes about 3-5 minutes.

Additional Toppings
1 avocados
dicedCotija cheese, grated
fresh cilantro (remainder from above ingredients)

Ladle soup into large soup bowls. Add some avocado, tortilla strips, a sprinkle of cheese and cilantro. Enjoy!

I didn't care much for the soft strips of tortilla that went into the soup before cooking, they didn't disolve and stayed all soft, mushy and slimey. Probably I'll omit those next time. Just found out I used flour tortillas instead of corn tortillas, maybe that's where it went wrong??

I did however love the salted crispy tortillastrips on top of the soup, in combo with the spicyness of the soup and the softness of the avocado. Definetely will be making this again!