Chicken Quesadilla

It has been a great Christmas and a great new year.  And post new year too, if I may add. Once again my 2012 books ended beautifully, with so many happy memories.

Unfortunately, my tummy also kept plenty of happy reminders during the holidays. Believe me, it shows.

It's time to kick off the new year with some non-fatty, healthier choice of meals. Well... slightly. If only to undo all that fatty, not so healthy choices I made in the holiday food selection.

I remember eating a lot of quesadillas in the U.S., owing much to the  South American influence in the country. I don't recall ever eating in an American restaurant that doesn't serve some sort of fajita or burrito or quesadilla.

In college, quesadillas and burritos were some of my favorite choices of frozen food. It's quick to reheat and easy to eat while studying.

So here I am making chicken quesadillas a few years later.

I start by roasting chicken breast. I just rub them with garlic salt and stick them in the oven at 150 degress Celsius for about an hour.

Then I separate and discard the bones. I shred the lean white meat. I have about 2 and a half cups.

I chop up 4 pieces red peppers and 1 large piece of green pepper.

I transfer my chicken and my peppers to a ball. To that I add half a cup of store bought onion vinaigrette dressing. Because it's what I've got. You can use just about any type of creamy salad dressings. Ranch works best. Cesar isn't bad at all.

I mix them all up.

I grab some tortillas and lay them flat on my work area. I use 9-inch sized whole wheat tortillas. Whole wheat because, I want to start this year by making healthy choices. And besides, I can't taste the difference between whole wheat and white.

Spoon half of your chicken mixture to one side of the tortilla.

Top with shredded cheese. Actually I hate shredding cheese because it makes my muscle ache so I use cheese slices that I just cut up. It works fine anyway. If you have shredded cheese though, mix it with your chicken before spooning to tortilla. Oh and use soft cheese, or cheese that melts quickly. You can use mozzarella, cheddar, swiss... or a mixture of all 3. I use good old American white cheddar cheese.

Fold the other half of the tortilla to cover. Lay on a baking sheet. Repeat to the other tortillas. I made 12 in total.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 150 degrees for 30 minutes or until cheese melts.

I made a few extras and I'm going to wrap each one in aluminum foil and then slip them inside my freezer bag. They will go inside the freezer so that anytime I want one, I'll just grab a piece, unwrap the foil, and stick it in the microwave for a minute. And I'll have instant chicken quesadillas!