Easy Wraps and Quesadillas

Many people are more concerned with their health these days, and with people having less time with their busy lifestyles to fit in home-cooked meals rather than fast food, it's increasingly difficult to eat nutritionally satisfying and delicious meals. Sometimes people tend to use the excuse of not eating healthy due to healthful or tasty food taking so long to prepare, well that's simply not true. Also, these recipes and quick and easy and ideal for vegetarians and vegans as you can choose whichever ingredients you'd like to have as the filling.

Quesadillas and wraps are easy, quick, and healthy, as well as versatile. There are so many varieties of tortillas, plain, wheat, sun-dried tomato, spinach, pesto, and more, which offers health benefits as well as variety! All you have to do is get some tortillas, load them up with veggies and cheese (soy cheese if you are vegetarian and prefer it or are vegan) and fry them or bake them for the quesadillas! I lightly oil my pan and prefer frying mine. The wraps don't even need any cooking, so they are even quicker to make. If you don't use tortillas often, they are easy to freeze and keep much longer that way, but note that sometimes they tend to crack if they are kept frozen too long.

If you have a small or large family this option is great for a meal. Wraps and quesadillas are also wonderful for families with picky eaters. Simply place all the "options" in the middle of the table and let them assemble the meal themselves by choosing what they want and what they don't want in their wraps or quesadillas. It doesn't take long to prepare. All you have to do is wash a vegetable, quickly chop it, and throw it into a bowl. Then it's time for chopping the next vegetable and so on. Place the tortillas on the table beside the veggies, and that's all the time it takes for the wraps. The quesadillas take just one additional step to fry or bake, but that is only a couple extra minutes.

Some of my favorite ingredients for quesadillas and wraps are pepperjack cheese, provolone cheese, mozzarella cheese, and swiss cheese; roughly chopped artichokes; spinach, kale, or other leafy greens; onions are a must for my wraps and quesadillas; tomatoes; shredded zucchini; shredded carrots; and many other veggies. You can also add things such as guacamole, olives, broccoli, bacon, chicken, chili, salsa, sour cream, lettuce, cabbage, and anything that you desire. That's why wraps and quesadillas are so great: you can add whatever you like and leave out things you don't like. It's so easy to be creative with this meal!

Of course it goes without saying that if you wanted an even healthier wrap or quesadilla you can add more of the good stuff like tons of vegetables and omit things you might normally add such as mayonaisse, cheese, salad dressings and the like which add much fat and sodium content. Also, with the quesadillas, it's healthier to bake them, but they don't require much oil in the first place and are not deep-fried, so there isn't much harm in frying tham rather than baking. Use only enough oil so they won't stick to the frying pan. (Half a teaspoon of oil should be more than enough.)

I cannot stress how easy it is to vary your ingredients to offer variety and health benefits, and the best part is that they are easy to make, affordable, and DAMN GOOD, so if you've never tried to make wraps or quesadillas at home, why not experiment tonight? They can be served alone as a small meal or with steamed veggies, salads, soups, or whatever else you prefer on the side as a big dinner!

Originally published 21 Aug 2008 at Associated Content (Yahoo! Contributor Network):
Easy Wraps and Quesadillas.