MOLTEN CHEESE BEEF OR CHICKEN QUESADILLAS

Click ==> To jump to this RECIPE






CLICK ON THE PHOTOS TO SEE BIGGER IMAGES


MOLTEN CHEESE BEEF OR CHICKEN QUESADILLAS

On vacation I enjoyed Quesadillas at Chili’s in the airport in Miami.  This was my first visit to Chili’s ever!  I must say I really enjoyed my cheat meal.  I had not been good on  holiday in any case, so this was my last splurge.  I was hungry and very tried as a result of the long flight overnight from Cape Town, South Africa. Besides we were exhausted from a little airport drama!  I had been given someone else's hand luggage from the hotel bus and the bus driver drove off!  My husband, soon as he realized, ran after him a long way with the other person's luggage!  My hero! Yikes!  He managed to catch up with the bus and the other bewildered passengers with my luggage in hand could not have been more grateful!  I grew up in a little town called Wellington about 60 miles from Cape Town in the interior.  The trip to South Africa is 2 days in transit from South America. It was lovely, but I’m so happy to be home and being creative in my kitchen again.  I decided I needed to duplicate that lovely meal. These beef  and chicken quesadillas were absolutely delicious and along with some guacamole, I was a happy camper.  My husband told me that I had nailed it.


MIRACLE DOUGH TIPS: - Please note:USE BOB'S RED MILL COCONUT FLOUR FOR ALL MY RECIPES AND ESPECIALLY FOR THIS MIRACLE DOUGH - COCONUT FLOURS DIFFER GREATLY IN THEIR ABILITY TO ABSORB MOISTURE!  There are several variations of this kind of dough on the internet, but mine is different to all the others out there.  I am getting very adept with this dough.  Use a fork to make it come together.  At first it looks impossible (might even have strings of cheese in it), but keep mixing and then turn out on a cutting board.  Knead for a couple of minutes, adding a bit of coconut flour as needed to make a lovely elastic dough. The more coconut flour one can add (usually about 1 tbsp or a bit more), the more bread-like the dough becomes (more substantial).  Since coconut flour is mostly fiber, you're not really adding much in the way of carbs, spread over several servings.  I put the dough ball on parchment paper and cover the dough with plastic wrap and using a  rolling pin (sometimes I use my special small one for pie dough), roll it out with ease.  If at any time the dough becomes resistant to rolling, nuke it approximately 10  to 20 seconds and away you go again!

Here is a pic of the dough ball - lovely, soft and malleable!!



Mozzarella cheeses that I have successfully used with the Miracle Dough and The Sweet Miracle Pastry Dough as well.  I get mine from Price Smart in South America, which is the same as Costco in the United States.

I tried this one AND the whole milk one - both work


I usually grate my own cheese using my 20-year old Braun food processor, which has a ton of gadgets - this is the cheese I use most often - however, these days I like the convenience of buying shredded Mozzarella cheese.










Ingredients:

Beef Filling:* (you will have leftovers)
1 tbsp bacon fat (15 mL)
1 large onion, chopped (optional)
3 lbs lean ground beef (1.4 kg)
1 tsp salt (5 mL)
1 tsp seasoning salt (5 mL)
1 tsp black pepper (5 mL)
Hot sauce, optional
5 slices bacon cooked as crispy as desired,
  and chopped small
2 tbsp cream cheese per quesadilla (30 mL)
2/cup grated Monterey Jack cheese, OR (150 mL)
  Mozzarella cheese per quesadilla, divided
Quesadillas, recipe below


Instructions:

For the Chicken Filling - Use cooked, chopped chicken, onion and green pepper cooked mixture (cook green pepper soft) and season as desired or use some frozen, thawed spinach (squeezed dry with your hands).  The filling adds very few carbs.

Beef Filling: In large nonstick pan, in bacon fat, stir fry onion if using until golden brown.  Add ground beef and cook until browned.  During cooking sprinkle beef with salt, seasoning salt and black pepper, adding hot sauce, if desired and to taste.  Stir in bacon bits.  Follow the directions below for how to make, assemble and cook the quesadillas.

QUESADILLAS

Delicious. This works very well and tastes just as good as tortillas (I think better!), just in a different way - some of you will prefer it.  What’s more is you can seal the circumference of the dough and this makes it very easy to flip a loaded, large quesadilla in the frying pan without any spillage.  You can make these Quesadillas as crispy as you would like them to be.  You can see I toasted the bottom of this quesadilla more than the top to give you an idea of what is possible.

Miracle Dough: (For Grain-Free Version, see below recipe instruction)
2 cups finely grated Mozzarella cheese (500 mL)
2 tbsp melted butter (30 mL)
1 cup Gluten-Free Bake Mix 2 (250 mL)  Click for the recipe
  (you don't need the gelatin)   For a GRAIN-FREE version, scroll down!
1 egg, fork beaten
1/4  tsp onion salt (1 mL)
1/4  tsp garlic powder(1 mL)

Miracle Dough:  In microwave oven in microwaveable bowl, melt Mozzarella cheese.  This took 2 minutes in my 1200 Watt microwave oven (big, powerful microwave!) to be thoroughly molten. Remove bowl with oven gloves (be very careful!).  Pour melted butter over top. Place Gluten-Free Bake Mix 2 on top. In small bowl, beat egg with fork.  Add onion salt and garlic powder and beat with fork.  Add to Mozzarella cheese. Stir with a fork to form a dough ball.  Keep stirring until all is mixed quite evenly.

Measure four balls weighing 3 oz (85 g) each.  Place a dough ball on parchment paper, cover with plastic wrap and roll out into a 7-inch (18 cm) circle. If the dough becomes more resistant, nuke for 10 seconds and continue. Place the circle in a nonstick, greased frying pan, preferably 7 inches (18 cm) in diameter.

Sprinkle 1/3 cup (75 mL) grated Monterey Jack, OR Mozzarella cheese on the circle.  Place 3/4 cup beef (OR chicken) mixture over top, covering the circle.  Sprinkle with 2 tbsp (30 mL) cream cheese and another 1/cup cheese  Cover with another dough circle rolled out to the same size.  Pinch the circumference of the circle to enclose the filling (this makes for easier turning).  Over medium-low heat, brown the bottom crust, flip and brown the top crust as well, to your liking.  It should be golden brown to somewhat dark brown, if desired (not too dark), and crispy.

For a Grain-Free version, use a bake mix made up of 2 cups (500 mL) almond flour and 2/cup (150 mL) coconut flour.  Use 3/4  cup (175 mL) of the mixture.  OR, simply use 2/cup (150 mL) almond flour and 2 tbsp (30 mL) to 4 tbsp (60 mL) coconut flour for each batch of Miracle Dough (I have not tested this smaller version, but the Grain-Free Bake mix - yes!  My feeling is the smaller version will be fine as well.). I still slightly prefer the Miracle Dough goodies made with the Gluten-Free Bake Mix, however, this is an very lovely option.


NOTE:  You can use my new and easy Keto Bake Mix in the Miracle Dough, if desired.


Yield:  2 large loaded beef quesadillas
1/2 loaded quesadilla per serving (2 or 4 pieces, depending on how you cut it up)
577.8 calories
53.7 g protein
57.6 g fat
0.0 g fiber
8.5 g net carbs (7.5 g net carbs with the grain-free version)


[Sneak a Peek: CLICK on any Cookbook cover below to view all the Photos/Recipes inside]