Roasted Veggie Quesadillas

When you have a lot of various vegetables on hand, one great way to use quite a bit of them in one dish is to make something versatile. A versatile dish is quesadillas, where they can be filled with just about anything. I made these Roasted Veggie Quesadillas for my recent Latin Inspired Independence Day party and they were one of the first things that were eaten up!

For the Roasted Veggie Quesadillas, I filled them with a mixture of portobello mushrooms, a trio of mixed bell peppers (red, orange and green), sweet red onions, sauteed spinach and a touch of garlic. I roasted the mushrooms, bell peppers and onions to get a hint of smokiness and the spinach and garlic added more tasty fillings overall. To hold the quesadilla together, I used two cheese - pepper jack and colby jack. This combination works nicely with the vegetables, making them a popular dish on the table!

Roasted Veggie Quesadillas

original Joelen recipe

2 portobello mushrooms, de-stemmed
1 red bell pepper, cored & sliced thin
1 orange bell pepper, cored & sliced thin
1 green bell pepper, cored & sliced thin
1 medium red onion, sliced thin
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
2 cup fresh baby spinach
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 slices pepper jack cheese
1/2 cup shredded colby cheese
6 burrito sized flour tortillas, each cut in half
cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place mushrooms, bell peppers and onion in a bowl and toss with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Place vegetable mixture on prepared baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, in a medium saute pan, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and heat. Once hot, add the minced garlic and baby spinach. Saute until spinach wilts. Take off from heat and set aside.

In a non stick skillet, coat with cooking spray and warm up over medium high heat. Take a cut tortilla and place in the skillet. Crumble half a slice of pepper jack cheese on one half of the tortilla. Top with the vegetable mixture, then with the spinach mixture. Sprinkle a half tablespoon of shredded colby jack cheese over the spinach layer and fold over the other side of the tortilla to form a triangle. Spray the top of the tortilla with cooking spray and flip when the bottom of the quesadilla has browned slightly. Brown the other side of the quesadilla and remove from pan. Repeat with the remaining cut tortillas. Serve quesadillas warm with a side of sour cream if desired.