New Clean Eating Recipe

Wade and I are in the middle of trying to revamp our eating lifestyle. I am turning often to my favorite food magazine, Clean Eating.



All of the recipes I have tried so far, we have enjoyed.

Even the kids.

Tonight there were only three of us at home: Me, Wade and Grant. So I had enough ingredients to make "Shrimp and Goat Cheese Quesadillas" out of the March 2011 magazine.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

I only had frozen shrimp on hand, so I thawed and rinsed them, making sure they really were deveined well. Then I gave them a rough chop. You will need to use about 6 oz of shrimp.

Next you will be chopping your ingredients for the mixture that will be placed inside you quesadillas. First you chop about 1/4 cup of green olives.



Then it calls for a 1/2 cup jarred sliced roasted red peppers. I had some fresh red peppers in my crisper drawer that needed to be used up, so I gave them a rough chop, along with some cucumber (which I love), tossed them with olive oil and a little bit of salt then put them in the over to roast while I finished the rest of the mixture. I think you could use a variety of veggies for this.



Next chop some fresh basil, about 1 Tbsp of the yummy herb.



It didn't take long for the veggies to be done in a really hot oven. Don't you just love the look of roasted veggies?



In a large bowl, put together the chopped shrimp, basil, roasted veggies (after you give them a slicing), olives and then crumble in about 4 oz of goat cheese.

Now I will have to tell you that before tonight, I have never had goat cheese. Just the sound of it put me off.

But you can't cook with an ingredient that you don't taste, right? So I took a taste and I learned something new tonight:

I LOVE GOAT CHEESE!

It has such depth of flavor and is really bold.

So mix all of this together well.

Place 4 whole wheat tortillas on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I use a silpat, but you can use parchment paper. Using one fourth of the mixture for each tortilla, spoon the mixture onto half of the tortilla leaving room to fold it over as shown.



Fold the tortillas over. Brush each tortilla with olive oil and then sprinkle with crushed black pepper.



Into the oven they go! But only for 6 minutes. So I had these babies all ready and when Wade walked in the door tonight, I popped then in the oven. They were ready by the time he laid his stuff down, washed his hands and came to the bar to eat! How easy is that?

They looked yummy and crisp on top!



And they tasted yummy, too! Can you see that beautiful color inside?! I love food with color. Makes you want to dig in! And dig in we did.



I will say that the bottoms of these were soft and soggy. When I do these again, and I will, I will think about oiling the bottom of the tortillas or browning them in a skillet in order to get a crispiness on top and bottom of the tortillas.

They also did not have as much "kick" as I anticipated they would, so next time I will increase the spices. I think I will try something "hotter" which is what we prefer. Maybe jalapenos, cayenne pepper, paprika.........

Wade took seconds which is always a sign that he likes them. He gave this a "keeper" status and that means it will go into the recipe box for good with the necessary changes.

Grant ate a small portion. He didn't love it, but he doesn't like shrimp or olives. He did well to eat what he did. Our kids have to taste and try new things, even if it is not their favorite.

Thanks, Clean Eating! Once again you have delivered a quick and easy meal for my family that was healthy and yummy!