Black Bean and Spinach Quesadilla with Goat Cheese

I had to post what we had for dinner tonight. This is a recipe from Cooking Light with a few modifications. I added 6 oz. of spinach to the black bean mixture and used fresh salsa rather than jarred salsa. It wasn't bad!

2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup fresh salsa
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, undrained
6 ounce package baby spinach
1 (4-ounce) package goat cheese
8 (8-inch) flour tortillas
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
1/2 cup fresh salsa

Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic, and saute for 3 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup salsa, cumin, and beans, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes or until thick. Add spinach and cook until spinach is wilted. Mash the bean mixture slightly with a potato masher. Remove from heat; stir in the goat cheese.

Spread the bean mixture evenly over 4 tortillas; top each with 1 tortilla, pressing gently.

Heat 1/4 teaspoon olive oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 quesadilla, and cook for 2 minutes on each side. Repeat the procedure with the remaining olive oil and quesadillas. Cut each quesadilla into 6 wedges. Serve with fat-free sour cream and 1/2 cup salsa.

There's always a time for the First

There always has to be a first in order to begin. Not only is this the first post to this blog, it's the first blog I've ever created (aside from the provided myspace blog).

What do I hope to do? I was complaining to my husband this morning, while building the weekly menu, that I have a hard time finding good, healthy vegetarian recipes with basic nutrition information that falls into the expected American food pyramid for food consumption. We subscribe to Cooking Light as a gift from my parents, but 95% of the recipes are NOT vegetarian, and the ones that are vegetarian always seem to consist of the same recipes....pasta, cheese, pizza, stir-fry's.... Much of the time, the recipes include a lot of mushrooms and onions, things we try to avoid when following a somewhat Ayurvedic diet. So, I hope to accumulate a base of recipes that are Vegetarian/Pescetarian in nature, that are healthy, healing, and make one feel good! My husband suggested that I start a magazine...and this seems to be the second best thing!

In addition to the above, I hope that this blog helps me cultivate my creativity and helps me move away from recipes and towards my own palate for what tastes heavenly. I hope that people read it, that it is useful to those reading, and that those reading will help me out by posting their comments.

Thanks and talk to you soon!