Tasteful Thursday: Shrimp Quesadilla

Howza 'bout a quick easy recipe for a busy weeknight? This can be low fat too if you use the right ingredients. Here are our cast of characters, at least the ones that made it to rehearsal:

These guys are gonna make a quick side dish:

Now I know some of my friends and family on the Mississippi Gulf Coast will probably cringe in their fishin' boots to see me using frozen shrimps, but hey they were on sale at the Food Lion "buy one get one free", so shush!! If you get home late from work and you forgot to thaw some meat for dinner, pull out a bag of these frozen shrimp and thaw them under cold water in a colander, like I did:

Next take the tails off and cut them up a little. You can skip the cutting up part unless you have a whiney 8-year-old that doesn't like to eat shrimp in big pieces, only little ones. The shrimp are actually fully cooked, so we are just going to warm them in a skillet with a turn or two around the pan of olive oil.

Sprinkle your shrimp generously with this yummy mexican seasoning from Mrs. Dash (for those of us watching our sodium intake) or you can use some Old Bay, yummy!

And since I am committing all sorts of culinary offenses on my way to a quick dinner, spinkle your shrimp with some bottled lime juice; only if you were too lazy to stop at the store for some real limes and fresh cilantro.....uh hum, I admit it, I was too lazy and my pointy-toed black heels were giving me a run for my money!

Sautee on medium high until it is bubbly:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a cookie sheet, lay out your tortilla (whole wheat if you love your life) sprinkle with shredded mexican cheese, top with shrimp.

Add some more cheese and jalapenos' (if you love 'em). Top with another torilla.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until cheese melts all that yummy goodness together:

Now for a yummy dipping sauce to compliment our flavors. Remember Low Fat Sour Cream if you are watching your hind quarters. You use equal parts sour cream and cocktail sauce. So if you want a cup of sauce, use 1/2 cup SC and 1/2 cup cocktail sauce:

I could eat this stuff like cake batter, but I'm not because I don't want cake batter or sour cream thighs.

And finally my quick and healthy mexican rice. You can use any rice, but my heart wants me to eat brown rice to keep it strong. So I use the brown rice boil in a bag pouch by Uncle Ben - cook as directed on box.

Combine cooked rice and 1/3 cup of salsa. Stir it all around and there you go:

Add some salad on the side and in less than 15 minutes, you can pull together a healthy, quick meal, no excuses!