I guess technically a quesadilla should have cheese but we are whole foods plant based. So for my hubby and I it was no cheese or cheese like substance. If you aren’t doing the WFPB thing and want some cheese it is up to you. The omnis and the vegetarian chose cheddar cheese in the center of there quesadilla.

I started by microwaving three sweet potatoes and slicing up the veggies. You can choose what you like but I chose onion, red pepper, mushrooms, sweet corn, and a bit of spinach. I thought about adding in my artichoke hearts as well but decided I had enough…considering I had leftovers I think I was right. I used some vegetable stock in a hot pan to start off the onions. Once those were starting to soften up nicely I added in the rest of the vegetables. While the vegetables were cooking I added in 1tsp smoked paprika, red chilli flakes, black pepper and 1 tsp liquid seasoning. Cooked until soft and set aside.

I also made my own “refried” beans. I did not look up instructions or even typical ingredients so I am not sure this was the best method but it was my method.

2 tins pinto beans

1/2 – 1 cup vegetable stock

1/2 packet of taco seasoning

I drained the beans (though perhaps keeping that liquid would have been sensible looking back) and rinsed. Poured the beans into a blender with some stock. I would recommend the 1/2 cup even though I used much less at the time. It seemed a bit thin to me at the time but while heating it thickened up fast so more stock at the blending point would probably work better. While heating I added the 1/2 packet of the seasoning and added stock as needed to keep the texture creamier like the store bought version. It really was that easy. Just stirred constantly until the beans were hot.

Now we have the sweet potato mashable, veggies soft, and beans hot…it is time to assemble. To make the sides stick together well when folded I thickly spread beans on one side of the wholewheat tortilla and the sweet potato on the other (see picture) and added the veggies on top of the sweet potato. Folded the tortilla over to be closed a pressed a bit just to get everything settled. Onto a silicone mat on a baking sheet and into the oven (200C / 400F) for about 5-7 minutes or until the tortilla is crisp.

I served our quesadillas with some kitchen sink salad leftover from lunch. All that means is that at lunchtime, before going to the store for the weekly shop, I threw together a salad of all the salad vegetables we had left in the fridge. I found a fat free (no oils) salad dressing that I believe was pizza express chilli and garlic which nicely set off the salad.

I am in England where getting things like fat-free refried beans is near impossible so making my own was the only way to make this work for me. If you aren’t forgoing oil than the shop bought should be fine and if you are in the States I am sure your supermarket has an oil-free option. Without the stickiness of the beans and sweet potato I don’t think this would work but this was I was still able to pick it up and eat it like a sandwich so I find it successful.