Monster Quesadillas

Recently, I found out that I have an iron deficiency. While it isn't alarming for a vegetarian to be low on iron, finding this out did make me realize that eating dorm food and Chipotle all the time probably wasn't the best thing that I could be doing to get healthier. I spent a little time at the grocery store and a tiny bit of inspiration brought me to get through about 12 cooked meals that are fairly healthy and pretty high in iron! I thought I'd start sharing these ideas.

Note that everything that I "cook" is incredibly easy and hardly counts as real cooking. I'm in class all day and I work at night so this is the best I can do!

Today I made these monster quesadillas. I've found that this combination of vegetables is very filling and creates a lot of flavor.

I used one whole wheat tortilla as the base and I started off with the tiniest sprinkle of pepper jack cheese. I like to put a little cheese on the bottom so that as it heated up and started to melt it would help the whole quesadilla stick together nicely. Next, I loaded up the tortilla with baby spinach. I used a decent sized handful because the iron in this meal comes from the spinach and that is a major goal for me! I then used a smaller handful of diced green peppers for crunch and few diced red onions for flavor. I added one more layer of spinach and added my pepper jack cheese!

Here's a picture of the open faced quesadilla before adding another whole wheat tortilla on top:

 

After that, it's just a matter of heating up a flat pan and toasting the quesadilla for about 20 seconds per side, or until the cheese is melty and the outside is crispy. Cut it into 4 pieces and you've got a great healthy lunch that will keep you full until dinner!

 

 

Love,

 

Ranjini