... Grilled Chicken and Spinach Quesadillas

Dad went on an overnight fishing trip, so Mom and I declared 'Girls Night'!  We whipped up a couple of tasty martinis and fired up the griddle for a no-fuss Mexican-ish dinner.  We both love cooking, but after a long day of work for both of us, we wanted something easy and quick.  This recipe did the trick!

While I was shredding the chicken, Mom mixed up some delicious guacamole.  Grab an avocado, toss in some cilantro, a little fresh salsa - which is quicker and easier that cutting up tomatoes, onions, etc, but you can certainly do that instead and it's very good! - maybe throw in a little garlic salt and you're good to go.

In less than half an hour, from start to finish, you have a great meal perfect for girl talk (but I bet the boys would love it, too!).

Grilled Chicken and Spinach Quesadillas
serves 4

1 - 2 1/2 pound rotisserie chicken, meat shredded
4 cups baby spinach (about 3 ounces)
1 1/2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese (6 ounces)
4 large flour tortillas
1 avocado, diced
1/2 cup store-bought fresh salsa
1/4 cup sour cream

Heat grill to medium.  In a large bowl, combine the chicken, spinach, and cheese.  Dividing evenly, place the mixture on half of each tortilla.  Fold the other half over to cover.

Grill the quesadillas until the cheese has melted and the tortillas are crisp, 3 to 4 minutes per side.  Serve with the avocado, salsa, and sour cream.

Taylor's Notes:
Instead of the grill, we fired up the griddle.  It was much easier clean up and we didn't have to go down to the patio for to use the grill.  Hey, it was hot and we had better things to do like drink martinis and watch a movie!  The griddle worked just as well, but we didn't get those great grill lines like we probably would have with the grill.  


We added more cheese than the recipe called for because the quesadillas weren't really sticking together.  I think if you layer the ingredients, so that there's cheese next to the tortilla as well as mixed in with the chicken and spinach, it may turn out better.  And, hey, who doesn't love more cheese?!


Mom and I both thought this was a pretty tasty recipe, but would probably add to the ingredients in the quesadilla next time.  Maybe some mushrooms?  Onions?  Fresh minced garlic?  There's a wide range of things you could toss in to add more flavor and make it your own.  All in all, though, it was a perfect girls-only-martini-drinking-movie-watching dinner.  


Enjoy!