Breakfast Quesadilla

Saturday breakfast is one of our favorite meals of the week. We have a whole day ahead of us without work responsibilities and usually fun things planned. But Saturday breakfast can become a little bit of a hassle when you haven't been to the grocery store in a few days. So for this meal, we went with what we had left in the fridge.

Cheese, eggs, veggies and tortilla shells make for an easy quesadilla. The remnants of homemade salsa are a great topping. The kicker was leftover refried beans. This added extra flavor and protein when we didn't have any breakfast meats available.





Ingredients
1/4 cup onions chopped
1 medium mushroom chopped
2 eggs beaten
2 corn tortilla shells
Cheese
Refried beans


Recipe
Sauté the onions and mushrooms until cooked in a small amount of olive oil. Add the eggs and cook to the desired doneness (we went with slightly runny). Remove the eggs from the pan, coat with cooking spray (watch for sneaky gluten in cooking spray). Spread beans and cheese on one shell, add to the pan, top with eggs, cheese, and another tortilla shell. Cook for a few minutes, flip, and remove when cheese is melted.


Cut into quarters. Serve with hot sauce and salsa. Attack Saturday.

Fresh Chunky Salsa

We've previously stated our affinity for Tex-Mex fare. In addition to being made gluten free easily, it is also usually cheap. But sometimes you get what you pay for and salsa is one of those items. The tastiest salsas are usually chunky and fresh and expensive.

We don't let that stop us. We are cheap and resourceful. We make the most out of canned foods and cheap ingredients to come up with a delicious salsa.

Careful with the jalapenos or your friends won't like you.

Ingredients:
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can whole kernel corn
1 cup chopped pickled jalapeños
1 medium onion chopped
Chili powder
Crushed red pepper
Salt
Pepper
Cilantro

Recipe
Combine all of the vegetables and stir. Add Seasonings to taste.

Note - adjust the jalapeños and crushed red pepper to taste for your palate.

Note - cilantro is a nice addition, but not 100% necessary.

Potential additions:
Bell pepper
Cucumber
Shallots
Crushed tomatoes (if diced are not available)

Avoiding Sneaky Gluten - Taco Seasoning

Here, we introduce a new segment called "Avoiding Sneaky Gluten". Gluten (that little freaker-sneaker) frequently makes it's way into foods that you would not suspect. We're going to try to profile some of these sneaky foods with ways to avoid them.

Usually, Tex-Mex meals are the most delicious and easy to make naturally gluten-free. Rice and corn products combined with veggies, yum! I have made this known to my friends and family for the main purpose of social gatherings. My mom, who loves to cook and is quite good at it, has had 24 years to get used to cooking dairy free options for me. This whole gluten-free thing is new and tricky. While Tex-Mex has seemed to be the safest meal option, there have been multiple times recently that I've had to enjoy vegan tacos instead of the regular chicken, turkey or beef options because of the taco seasoning they used with the meat.

My friends and family members, as well as myself the first few times, were shocked when they realized the seasoning contained gluten. It was something I never even considered would bother me until I randomly checked because, well, ya just never know with gluten. I'm glad I did and have warned my friends and family about it. Even the taco seasonings that I have found to be "gluten free" contain not so great ingredients, such as dairy and MSG. I try to avoid MSG if possible after reading how it affects other people. So this has led to making a more natural and gluten-free version. We made it in bulk so we even saved money in the end... Healthier and Cheaper!

Ingredients (from allrecipes.com: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/taco-seasoning-i/)

1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Common Taco Seasonings and Links to ingredients:
McCormick - Contains dairy ingredients.

Pace - Contains Wheat Flour   
Ortega - Contains Maltodextrin

Old El Paso - Contains MSG