Clean Eating Chicken Quesadillas

I found a clean eating Chicken Quesadilla recipe online and have tweaked it to fit my tastes/likes. Seems like a quick and easy recipe and it is sure to please my picky husband. I added cumin in place of salt and changed the onion from white to red since I like the more pronounced taste. Additionally, the original recipe called for navy beans and I substituted black beans for a more southwestern feel.

Serve this up with some fat-free sour cream, some Mexican Corn on the Cob (in my next post) and a Clean Eating Margarita. The margarita recipe may be found Here.

Ingredients:

8 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 tsp. extra virgin olive oil

Fresh ground pepper

1 tea. Ground cumin

1 med. red onion, diced

1 red pepper, diced

1 (6-8 oz.) bag baby spinach (Rinse and dry)

3/4 c. low fat ricotta cheese

1/2 c. black beans, rinsed and drained

3/4 c. low fat mozzerella cheese, shredded

1/4 c. parsley, chopped

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Pinch nutmeg

8 small whole wheat tortillas ( Can make your own if you are ambitious)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat chicken with 1 tsp. oil and season with pepper and cumin. Place chicken on baking sheet lined with parchment paper and cook for 15 minutes or until fully cooked. Remove from oven and let cool.

Heat 1 tsp. olive oil in a large nonstick pan over medium high heat. When oil is hot add onion and red pepper, stirring frequently, for 2-3 minutes. Add spinach to pan and cook until wilted, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and place mixture in a paper towel lined bowl. Let cool.

In a large bowl combine ricotta cheese and beans, mashing beans slightly. Add mozzerella cheese, parsley, lemon juice and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper. Stir well. When chicken has cooled, dice into 1/2 inch pieces and add to cheese mixture.

Working in small batches. squeeze excess moisture from spinach mixture with your hands. Add spinach mixture to chicken and cheese mixture. Mix thoroughly. Adjust seasoning if necessary.

On a flat surface, lay out tortillas and scoop out 1/3 c. mixture onto center of tortilla. Fold each tortilla in half, pressing gently to flatten filling evenly, until filling is about 1/4 inch from edge. Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil and season with salt and pepper.

Place quesadillas on parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 16-18 minutes or uintil tortillas are well browned and crisp. Let sit for 3 minutes before cutting.