Category: Main Dishes / Snacks / Vegetarian

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

2¼ cups spinach, frozen, chopped (thawed and drained yields 1½ cups)

1 cup kidney beans, dark red, canned, no salt added, drained and rinsed; or kidney beans, dry, cooked

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon onion powder

¼ teaspoon chili powder

4 whole-grain tortillas, 8″ (at least 51 gm each)

1½ cups mozzarella cheese, low-fat, shredded

Nonstick cooking spray

Instructions

  1. Thaw, drain, and squeeze excess liquid from spinach.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 °F.
  3. Place kidney beans in a small microwavable bowl.
  4. Add garlic powder, onion powder, and chili powder.
  5. Lightly mash beans by squeezing, using gloved hands (at least 50% of the beans should appear whole). Be careful not to over mash beans.
  6. Heat in microwave for 1 minute. Stir with a spoon.
  7. Prepare quesadillas: a. Place half of the tortillas on a baking sheet. Spread ¾ cup of spinach on each tortilla. Top each with 3/8 cup of bean mixture and ¾ cup of cheese. b. Place remaining tortillas on top. c. Spray outside of filled quesadillas with nonstick cooking spray.
  8. Bake for 15 minutes. Heat quesadillas to an internal temperature of 140 °F or higher for at least 15 seconds.
  9. Cut each quesadilla into 6 wedges.
  10. Serve 2 wedges or 1/3 quesadilla

Recipe Source:

Team Nutrition CACFP Multicultural Recipe Project. https://teamnutrition.usda.gov