Black Bean Zucchini Quesadilla

This is a great recipe for our Vegetarian friends, or for anyone else for that matter!

Black beans, zucchini, and a bit of cheese folded into tortillas – this may be the best quesadilla you’ve ever tasted.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds zucchini, grated
• 1½ t salt
• 30 oz cooked or canned black beans, drained
• 12 oz Monterey Jack, grated
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1 jalapeño, minced
• 8 eight-inch flour tortillas
• olive oil

Preparation:

Toss zucchini with salt in the colander, and squeeze out excess water.Combine zucchini with beans, cheese, green onions, and jalapeño. Brush one side of each tortilla with oil. Place four tortillas oil side down and spread each with one fourth of the zucchini-bean mixture. Top each one with an oil-side-up tortilla. To Cook 1. Fry: place one quesadilla in a frying pan and cook over medium heat for 3 minutes on each side, until golden. 2. Broil: Place quesadillas on baking sheet and broil about 1-2 minutes per side, until golden. Serve quesadillas with salsa and Spanish rice for a hearty meal.

Energy Building Foods – Beans

Our next food that helps us build energy is Beans. What distinguishes beans from other plants? Beans have pods with seeds inside them. Aside from beans this includes peas, lentils and some people even include the peanut in this category. All legumes are able to take large amounts of nitrogen from the air and convert it to protein in the seeds. They also return large amounts of nitrogen to the ground and because of this the green plants are sometimes plowed under; as an organic fertilizer.

During the lean years of the Great Depression, beans were also tagged “poor man’s meat” because of their protein power at pennies per pound. Beans are a source of Niacin, Thiamin, Riboflavin, B6 vitamins and many other nutrients as well. They are also rich in complex carbohydrates and fiber. All of these nutrients are necessary for normal growth and for the building of body tissues. Beans are high in potassium which is required for the normal functioning of nerves and muscles. A cup of cooked beans contains more potassium than a banana. In fact, beans have more calcium and iron per cup than three ounces of cooked meat but contain no cholesterol and with less calories.

Beans- Lean protein, iron, B-vitamins and amino acids make beans an obvious go-to for energy, but another big benefit comes from their fiber content. Fiber slows digestion, giving your body a longer-term source of energy.