Roasted Veggie and Chicken Quesadillas

If it even remotely resembles a grilled cheese sandwich, my daughter will eat it. So, the trick is to tuck as many veggies as possible under a blanket of cheese and pray she doesn’t see a flash of green while munching down her quesadilla. If she sees green, she won’t eat it. She won’t give it the scratch and smell test. She won’t give it a tiny kitty lick. She won’t even think about it. In fact, she has a similar reaction that a bull has when seeing red: her nostrils flare, she gets riled up and angrily tosses the green food off her tray. If she had horns, she would use them to stab the food and propel it across the room. She’s never had a bad encounter with green food; so, I’ve been trying to figure out the negative association and why she has nixed green from her dining experiences. Possible explanations: 1. Brobee, her favorite stuffed doll, is green; 2. From her very first outdoor playdate (5 mos. old), at the doggie friendly grassy knolls of Green Lake, I told her not to eat grass because it had doggie doo doo on it, which caused great displeasure; or, 3. I feed spinach into a very loud juicer that she calls “cary” (translation: scary), which causes her to say, “back, back, back” as she quickly backs away from it. I may never crack the no-green code; but, in the meantime, I’m doing my best to sneak spinach into blueberry muffins, zucchini into quick bread, and wheatgrass into her strawberry smoothies.


Roasted Veggie and Chicken Quesadillas


Ingredients
5 tablespoon olive oil, divided
1 zucchini, cut lengthwise then chopped into ¼” pieces
1 summer squash, cut lengthwise and chopped into ¼” pieces
1 red bell pepper, seeds and membranes removed, cut into ¼” strips
½ rotisserie chicken, roughly chopped or shredded
1 cup shredded Jack cheese 
4 flour tortillas


Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, toss veggies in 3 tablespoons olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Spread veggies in single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake approximately 20 minutes.

Construct quesadillas: Sprinkle ¼ cup cheese over one tortilla. Top with chicken and roasted vegetables. Top with ¼ cup cheese. Place another tortilla on top. Repeat for the second quesadilla.

In a large sauté pan over medium high heat, add 2 tablespoons olive oil. Place quesadilla in hot pan and cook until bottom is golden and slightly crisp, then carefully flip and cook until golden brown on the other side and cheese is melted. Cut into quarters. My daughter likes quesadillas plain Jane, but I think they’re best served with salsa and guacamole.


Makes 2 large quesadillas