Refried Bean Quesadillas with Creamy Avocado Dip

A good benchmark for kitchen success: When boyfriend claims to be "not hungry" after getting home from work, tries what you've prepared for yourself, and happily eats half of it.

Are quesadillas kind of like Mexican Calzones?

Let's be honest, I do wish I could have eaten the whole thing myself. But it makes my heart soar to know someone I care about likes the food I prepare.

And now, I can share it with you so you can enjoy it too! It's healthy, easy, and budget-friendly.

How come I've never thought of this before??? Be sure you scroll all the way down for this recipe. It's so obvious it hurts.

This will make you 1 large serving that can serve as a meal, or a small serving for 2 people to split (if you feel like sharing). We're looking at about 400 calories here, with the guacamole sauce and all.

Here's what you need:

~1/2 diced onion

~ 1/2 can black beans

~ 1/2 cup salsa (I've had medium heat salsa sitting in my cupboard for a while now, so I busted that open)

~ 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
~ 1 large Tortilla

~ Hot sauce

~ Lemon or lime juice ( I used a little bit of both)

~ 2 cloves garlic

~ Cumin

~ Chili Powder

~ Cinnamon

~ Smoked Paprika

~ S&P

~ 1 Avocado

~ Lots of fresh cilantro

Refried beans are SO EASY. I had no idea!

Start by heating up some oil in a small pan. Once hot, add ~ HALF of the diced onions. Sprinkle with a little S&P.

Once they've cooked for a couple minutes, add a clove of garlic. Cook for a minute. 

Add the beans. You could go with a full can of beans here and make a fatter quesadilla. Half was completely sufficient and although beans are good for you, it cuts down on calories to not use as many.

Add about 1/4 cup of the salsa. You can add a little more or a little less. Typical refried beans do not include salsa, but it's a great way to get some flavorful liquid in the dish to help cook the beans down. If you don't want to use salsa, use a broth.

Add a conservative amount of cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika, cinnamon, and S&P. As you know, I never record quantities . . . so start with a little bit (a few shakes each) and be sure to taste test.

I also added a delicious squeeze of fresh lime.

The goal here is to cook the beans down to a chunky paste. You could let it cook for quite a while and do a completely smooth refried bean paste, but I wanted some texture in my quesadillas since I wasn't going to be adding anything else. But I bet adding some sweet corn kernels would be amazing for texture if you did want to go the smoother route! Just remember it will cook down quite a bit if you decide to make the paste.

While that's happening, prepare the guacamole sauce! 

Put an avocado in a large bowl and start mashing. 

Add the rest of the diced onions, the other clove of garlic (be sure it's finely minced), a generous squeeze of lemon or lime (strangely I prefer lemon) and the yogurt. 

You can use more or less yogurt. But I found the more I added, the better it got! And the more I liked the creamy texture to go with the chunky beans.

You really could eat this with a spoon and forget the quesadilla.

Add lots of fresh cilantro, so the mixture is freckled with green. Finally, a couple hefty glugs of hot sauce. I use Frank's. It's delicious and it's Paleo! Of course, add heat to your own liking. But I really thought the spicy / creamy combo was just perfect!

Add another small shake of cumin to the mixture, some salt, and there you have it. Stir it around to get it to whatever consistency you like. You could even throw it in a food processor or magic bullet to make it more like a sauce you can drizzle over the quesadillas.

Once your beans are to your liking, heat up a clean, larger pan to medium heat. Add a spritz of Pam if you have it (I have the coconut oil variety!), or a little oil. Enough to barely coat the pan. This is so your quesadilla does not get burnt.

Place your tortilla in the pan. Add your bean mixture to half, being sure to spread it all the way to the edges! Fold the other half of the tortilla over the beans and press down. Cook until tortilla is slightly crispy and gets pretty brown spots on both sides.

Once ready, remove, cut into quarters (or as many pieces as you like!) with a pizza cutter, and serve! I ended up serving the guacamole dip alongside the rest of the salsa. It ended up getting all mixed together which was also very good. But you can omit the salsa if you like.

Don't worry!!! If you actually make this dish, it will be in focus.

And there you have it. Spontaneous healthy Mexican feast. Just keep away from hungry (or "not hungry") boyfriends!