Low Fat Cheese and Bean Quesadillas: A Review

Eating a low fat diet doesn't mean you have to sacrifice taste; it is possible to have a low fat, low salt, low sugar, and low cholesterol meal without it tasting like cardboard. I recently made cheese and bean quesadillas from the cookbook, 1,000 Low Fat, Salt, Sugar, Cholesterol Healthy Recipes, and I enjoyed them so much I thought I'd share the recipe.

For those of you who don't know what a quesadilla is, it is like an inverted soft taco. Quesadillas can be a great appetizer or entrée and are perfect for vegetarians, although you can add any type of meat if you'd like. In fact, you can add just about anything and it would taste great.

I made two for myself and quite honestly it did not fill me up so I think four tortillas are needed per person if you're going to serve the quesadillas as a meal; two are fine if served as an appetizer. Either way I would serve the quesadillas with soup or a salad to make the meal complete.

Below is the recipe as listed in the cookbook.

Ingredients:

400 g/14 oz can of refried beans or any mashed bean of your choice.

8 tortillas - I made mine with fat-free flour tortillas, but you can use a low-carb whole wheat tortilla or any soft tortilla you like including flavored and corn tortillas.

200 g/7 oz grated dairy, soy, almond, or rice cheese.

1 chopped onion.

½ bunch of chopped fresh coriander (also known as cilantro) - I used parsley but you can use any herb or combination of herbs you like.

Salsa.

Instructions:

Heat the refried beans in a small pan over a low setting.

Warm the tortillas by placing them in a large pan over medium-low heat. You only want to make them pliable not crunchy. You can use a bit of oil or non-stick spray if you'd like.

Remove the tortillas from the pan, and spread with a layer of warm refried beans.

Top with chopped onions, cilantro, cheese and salsa.

Roll the tortilla tightly.

Re-heat the large pan and place the rolled tortillas in the pan with a few drops of water.

Cover the pan and let the tortilla heat until the cheese starts to melt.

Remove the tortillas from the pan.

Slice each tortilla diagonally into four pieces.

Serve as an appetizer to four people and enjoy!

Nutritional Information (*based on regular dairy cheddar cheese not low fat cheese; if you use low-fat cheese, the fat and caloric content will be reduced ):

Calories: 452

Protein: 18 g

Carbohydrates: 62 g

Fat: 16 g

Saturated fat: 7 g