Ground Beef Quesadillas

We don't necessarily enjoy "taco night" on Tuesdays. For us, it's whenever this mom is in the mood for it. Here lately, I've gotten on a quesadilla kick and I'm all for easy! These fit that bill perfectly! I love black beans in my quesadillas and I also add Rotel because I love tomatoes in my taco dishes but the rotel gives it an extra zeal and amps up the spice just enough (because I'm a pansy and don't like spicy food). Another thing I love about this recipe is I can use the remaining two tortillas and leftover shredded cheese to easily whip up a couple cheese quesadillas for my picky eaters. Serve the ground beef enchiladas with salsa (our fave)!

Bonus: If there is anything I've learned about cooking over the years, is shortcuts. Onions make dishes tasty but they can be a pain (literally) to prepare. Whenever a recipe calls for "chopped" onion, I ALWAYS use frozen chopped onions. Walmart and Publix carry them but are often out of stock. When I find them, I stock up because my eyes, personally, can't handle the burn from the acidity and my hubby isn't always home when I need him to dice up an onion for me. Plus, you can't taste a difference. 

Ground Beef Quesadillas

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground beef

1 cup chopped onions

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes 

10oz can Rotel (I use mild), drained

15oz can black beans 

3 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (I use sharp, always)

8 burrito-size flour tortillas 

2 tbsp butter, melted

1.) In large frying pan, cook ground beef with onions over medium heat until onions are translucent and beef is no longer pink. Add garlic and cook for another minute or two.  Drain grease. 

2.) Add cumin, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, can of Rotel and black beans into meat mixture and stir. Continue cooking over medium until heated through. 

3.) Bush butter on one side of each tortilla and stack on one plate.

4.) In another large frying pan  set over low-medium heat (or if you'd like you can just dump the meat mixture into a large bowl, wipe the pan you were using for that and reuse it for this next step), place one tortilla buttered side down in pan . Working quickly, add Monterey Jack cheese, 3-4 tbsp meat mixture, followed by shredded cheddar cheese on one half of the tortilla. 

5.) Fold in half and cook until browned. You can easily go ahead and make a second quesadilla on the other side of the pan while that one is cooking. Repeat with remaining ingredients until all quesadillas are cooked. 

6.) Cut each quesadilla into thirds  and serve with chunky salsa!