Chicken and Spinach Quesadillas

Last week I randomly went on a spinach kick. I wanted to make this steak sandwich on ciabatta bread with arugula, but when I went to the grocery store there wasn't any arugula and I had already gotten this nice ciabatta bread so I decided to substitute with spinach. I didn't post that recipe because it was not picture worthy and I was so hungry I just ate it right away. It was delicious though so I'm sure I will be making it sometime in the near future and will post it for you guys because there's a mustard mayo to go along with it that is absolutely amazing. Anyways, for the rest of the week I put spinach in literally everything... I made ham and spinach sandwiches, ham, cheese and spinach omelettes, and these chicken and spinach quesadillas. Now this picture above is kind of awful but I feel like it is hard to get a decent picture of quesadillas, however, I will try again soon and attempt to replace this one. This recipe from Annie's Eats is fast and easy and very tasty. I omitted the mushrooms because I find the texture to be really gross and I don't have a grill so I just made them over the stove. I'm going to post her version of the recipe though because I think it would be even better on the grill and the mushrooms would be great in them for all of you mushroom lovers out there. Just note that my adaptations are not listed because the simple taking out mushrooms is only for my taste buds.

Ingredients:

1-2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 tbsp. lime juice

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

¼ tsp. red pepper flakes

1-2 cloves garlic, crushed

fajita seasoning, to taste

1 tbsp. olive oil, plus more for brushing

3-4 oz. button mushrooms, trimmed and sliced

1 cup packed fresh spinach

3-4 flour tortillas

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Directions:

Combine the lime juice, vegetable oil, red pepper flakes and garlic in a plastic bag.  Seal and shake well to combine.  Add the chicken breast to the bag and allow to marinate at least 1 hour and up to 8 hours (such an easy thing to do before work or school!).

Place the chicken in a nonstick skillet and sprinkle to taste with fajita seasoning. Cook on medium-high heat until cooked through.  Cut into small pieces and set aside.  In the same skillet, heat 1 tbsp. olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add mushrooms and sauté until tender, about 3 minutes (I omitted).  Add the chicken and spinach and sauté just until the spinach is wilted, about 30 seconds.  Transfer the mixture to a bowl and set aside.

Brush a grill pan with olive oil and heat to medium/medium-high heat.  Divide the chicken mixture among the tortillas, spooning it onto half of each tortilla and leaving a border uncovered near the edge.  Sprinkle evenly with the cheese.  Fold the tortillas in half over the chicken mixture to enclose loosely.  Place on grill pan and cook until dark grill marks have formed on one side of the tortilla.  Flip over and repeat to achieve grill marks on both sides.  Repeat with remaining quesadillas. If you do not have a grill pan you can use a skillet as well adding 1 tbsp. of olive oil to the pan and heating on medium before adding the quesadillas. It will give the quesadilla a nice brown color like you see in my picture. Serve as desired with sour cream, salsa and guacamole.

Source: Recipe adapted from Annie's Eats