Cheese Quesadilla

Last weekend we had a few friends over for lunch.  We really loved hosting these lovely friends whom we lost to Ireland 10 years back! It was so much fun catching up…and we chatted till our jaws hurt! This was a pretty last minute lunch date so I didn't have time for any elaborate south Indian style lunch menu. But there were 4 kids coming, so I wanted to make something quick and yummy.

I made some marshmallow pops (recipe to be posted soon) and these quesadillas. And I couldn't believe how fast these got gobbled up! The quesadillas where slathered with sauce filled with cheese which are always a super hit! For the recipe post I added some chicken sausages. But if your guests are vegetarians like mine were, then you can totally omit the chicken and just go with the veggies.

So now you have this super quick appetizer recipe to wow you “mini” guests! Tried and tested! The kids loved the quesadillas so much that they forgot the rest of the dishes on the table!

Cheese Quesadillas

Serves: 4

Recipe Adapted from budgetbytes.com

Ingredients:

Tortillas – 4 (I used MISSION Multi-grain Tortillas)

Mozzarella Cheese – 2 cups (shredded)

Pasta Sauce – 2 cups (I used PREGO Pasta Sauce)

Onion – 1 Med Size (thinly sliced)

Capsicum – 1 Med Size (thinly sliced)

Olives (black or green) – 1 cup (sliced)

Chicken Sausage (optional) – 2 (thinly sliced)

Oil – for sauteing

Directions:

• Slice all the veggies, drain the olives and keep aside.
• Add a little oil to a pan and saute the thinly sliced chicken sausage for a few minutes until cooked. Drain on paper napkins.
• Take one tortilla wrap and spread ½ cup of pasta sauce on it.
• To this add a little capsicum, onions, olives and the sauteed chicken sausage. Then add ½ cup of mozzarella cheese and fold the tortilla in half.
• Heat a flat based pan with a little oil and cook the tortilla until brown and crispy on both sides.
• Cut into wedges and serve warm.

 NOTE:

• You can prepare the tortillas a couple of hours beforehand. When your guests are ready to eat, cook and serve the quesadillas immediately, otherwise they tend to get soggy.
• You can add or omit any of the toppings you want to suit your needs. 

Paneer Veg Lasagna

This yummy lasagna was our dinner a couple of days ago. My book club ladies are all quite the bakers! So in the midst of reading books, we are constantly on a bake off and swapping recipes. During one of our WhatsApp chatting sessions, my beautiful friend Maria passed me this great tried and tested Veggie Lasagna recipe. This recipe was originally from allrecipes.com, but I totally Indianised it! 

There was way too much cheese in the recipe, so I used up some paneer and veggies and whipped up this cheesy Paneer Veg Lasagna.

So go get your lasagna noodles and start layering! Add whatever veggies you like and don’t forget to sauce it up!

Paneer Veg Lasagna

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Lasagna Noodles – 9 sheets (I used San Remo Instant Lasagna)

Spinach Leaves – 1 bunch (finely chopped)

Capsicum – 1 big size (finely chopped)

Carrots – 1/2 cup (grated)

Paneer – 200 gms (crumbled)

Mozzarella Cheese – 1+ 1/4 cup (grated)

Egg – 1 (optional)

Chilli flakes – 2 teaspoons

Salt and ground pepper – to taste

Pasta Sauce – 3 cups (I used Prego Traditional pasta sauce)

Parmesan Cheese – 1/4 Cup (grated)

Directions:

• Rub little olive oil on the inside of a 9” baking pan/casserole dish. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.
• Cook the spinach in a pan of water for 8-10 minutes and drain.
• In a bowl, lightly beat the egg and add 1 cup of the shredded mozzarella cheese, spinach, capsicum, carrots and paneer. Add the salt, pepper and chilli flakes and mix well.
• In the greased casserole dish, first spoon a layer of the pasta sauce and spread to cover the bottom of the casserole dish. Top with 3 strips of lasagne noodle. On top of this, spread a layer of the paneer mixture followed by a layer of pasta sauce.
• Repeat the above layering steps for two more times using up the 9 lasagne noodles and end with a layer of pasta sauce. Be sure to coat the lasagne noodles with enough pasta sauce to help cook the noodles.
• Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese and the parmesan cheese on top. Cover the casserole with aluminium foil.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Then remove the aluminium foil and continue baking for another 15-20 minutes until lasagne is bubbling and lightly browned on the top.
• Remove from oven and let it stand for 5 minutes. Cut into 4 or 6 portions and serve warm.