this is one of my most favorite summer dinners. i say summer because it has lots of veggies in it and when you can walk out to your garden and pick your own it just makes it that much better. (or in my case, walk across the road and get veggies from your neighbors...why grow it if they do??) i have been known to make this during the winter too, it's just that good, even with supermarket veggies. it is a little bit on the "involved" side, but so worth it.
roasted vegetable quesadillas & sweet potato friesfor the quesadillas:(i cannot begin to estimate the "amounts" of each ingredient listed, so i'm just telling you what's in it & how to do it. it's a "use-as-much-as-you-like" recipe)onion, caramelized*
zucchini
summer squash
peppers (pick the color(s) you like)
black beans
sun-dried tomatoes (a lot of times i leave these out)
sun-dried tomato vinaigrette dressing
(i like ken's)grated parmesan cheese
crumbled feta cheese
shredded mozzarella cheese
whole wheat pitas
- preheat oven to 425ยบ. cut the zucchini, squash and peppers into chunks. line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, throw on the veggies. brush with olive oil (or the vinaigrette dressing), add a little salt & pepper, and bake for about 20 minutes, flipping once halfway through. (you want your veggies to be tender, might take a little longer or a little less, depending on your oven and your veggie-tenderness preference).
- in a small bowl, mix together some of the vinaigrette dressing and parmesan cheese.
- spread the dressing mixture on two pitas (like you're making a pb&j)
- top one of the pitas with some of the onion, roasted veggies, black beans, feta, and mozz.
- set the other pita on top (dressing side down of course)
- in a large, greased skillet, brown the pita on each side...be careful flipping!! i know, they're big & it's hard to do. some fillings might spill out, that's okay, you'll get better at it (at least that's what i tell myself). you should see my mom flip those babies...what a pro!!
- cut into wedges, serve, and enjoy your masterpiece!!
to give you an idea of serving size for this recipe, i can't finish a whole one of these by myself. for mike & i, i usually make two, but we always have leftovers. which i then look forward to eating for lunch the next day.
*i highly, highly recommend caramelizing the onions. the flavor of caramelized onions is out of this world and i'm not even an onion person.
('cept for the bloomin' onion at outback...and caramelized onions of course). it does take a bit of time, but so worth it. google it if you don't know how (oh how we do love mr. google).
for the sweet potato fries:i use the recipe from this
site, so i'll just send you there. we make these
a lot in our house.
this meal is best enjoyed while sitting at the picnic table in your backyard!
disclaimer: if anything is confusing, let me know. i do not do well in the writing-up-recipes department. so if you are confused, about this recipe that is, it is most likely my fault.and please let me know if you do make this and what you thought of it!!
