• Tortilla, 12″ – 2 each
• Cheese, your choice – ½ cup
• Black beans, canned, drained – ½ cup
• Cilantro, minced – 1 Tablespoon
• Lime juice, fresh  – ¼ lime
• Salsa (optional, but recommended) – 2 Tablespoons
• Oil, as needed

Heat a heavy-bottomed skillet over low heat while you’re prepping (5 min)

Drizzle a small amount of oil (enough to lightly coat the pan) into the preheated skillet.

Drop the tortilla flat into the pan; increase heat to medium-low. Top tortilla with cheese, beans, cilantro and second tortilla. Let sauté slowly so the cheese melts and the tortilla begins to brown, 3-5 minutes. Carefully flip the quesadilla to cook the B side. (For this, use a large spatula and a few fingers – but remember it’s pretty hot!)

When the second side is done, slide your quesadilla to cutting board, if you’re sharing, and cut it into 2 to 6 even pieces.

If you’re making several batches have all your prep done before the first tortilla hits the pan, and the oven preheated to 170 degrees. Remove each finished quesadilla to a sheet pan or plate in the oven (no plastic in the oven!) and cut them all just before you’re ready to serve.
A few topping options:

Sour cream or nonfat yogurt

Salsa

Avocado, sliced (or mashed with a squeeze of lime juice – which is pretty much guacamole!)

Start with at least ½ pound fresh black berries, and rinse them in a colander. Put fruit into a relatively small pot (relative to the amount of fruit you’re using) and add a splash of water (to cover the pot’s bottom.) Put a lid on it; bring to a simmer over medium heat.

When it begins to froth and bubble up, remove the lid, lower the heat, and simmer for an additional 10 minutes. The next part is key: Strain the hot syrup (BE CAREFUL!) through a coarse sieve (as opposed to fine.) Fair warning: this step is a little tricky partly because it’s hot, and partly because the sieve clogs up kind of quickly. (What you really want is what we in the biz call a China Cap: a cone-shaped sieve that has small holes, as opposed to mesh like a regular kitchen sieve.) The back of a large spoon or ladle is a good way to push the fruit through the sieve – probably in a couple batches. But alas, it’s worth the effort!! You’ll probably want to add some sugar, but do it at the end. Store leftover syrup wrapped in the fridge.

Oh yes… you may certainly experiment with other berries (straw; rasp; blue; a crazy combo of berries and stone fruit; etc.) It’s not a bad idea for gift-giving season. Rock the Fruit Syrup, foodies!

Cheese melted between tortillas… delicious. I don’t know the exact figure, but millions of people survive and thrive on a diet that included at least one quesadilla a day. In Mexico it’s a staple, filled and topped with a crazy variety of ingredients.

Quesadillas are cooked using the “sauté” method – cooked in a pan over direct heat, using a small amount of fat. Vegetable oil is a good option. They’re an excellent way to use up leftovers, so be creative!

It’s best to use a pan that is slightly bigger than the tortilla. Preheat the pan and fat on low while you grate or crumble the cheese and get all your ingredients ready. When you’re ready increase the heat to medium, drop a tortilla into the pan and load it up! Two basic methods: one tortilla, folded in half like a taco; or two tortillas that sandwich in the filling. (The folded one is easier to flip.)

Cook the first side till the cheese melts, squeeze the juice of ¼ a lime over the whole thing, then close it and flip it over. After a few tries you’ll learn how much filling you need, and how the melted cheese keeps the other ingredients nicely contained, etc.

Oh, top it with salsa, sour cream and cracked pepper… we eat with our eyes, too!

Beautiful, bittersweet orbs known as grapefruit are part of the citrus family.

They’re an excellent source of vitamin C and are packed full of water. I lived in the desert for a year where hydration is key to healthy survival. I started eating a grapefruit a day as part of my hydration efforts – I considered them time-release water!

Grapefruits are usually larger than oranges and have a thicker “pith” (the white skin between the peel and flesh.) Two common varieties are yellow and ruby – the latter being the sweeter. In terms of selection, the best advice I ever got regarding the ripeness of grapefruit is that it should feel “heavy for its size.” Meaning the heavier it is, the more juice it contains.

Citrus fruit is high enough in acid to have other culinary applications. Marinades and salad dressings and sauces often call for vinegar or wine or citrus juice – all of which provide a recipe with its “acid” component. For “grapefruit vinaigrette” substitute the juice for all or part of the vinegar in your basic vinaigrette [3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar; salt & pepper.] Grapefruit vinaigrette is excellent on a salad of shredded raw beets and shredded raw fennel.

Two common varieties are yellow and ruby – the latter being the sweeter. In terms of selection, the best advice I ever got regarding the ripeness of a grapefruit is that it should feel “heavy for its size.” Meaning the heavier it is, the more juice it contains.

Citrus fruit is high enough in acid to have other culinary applications. Marinades and salad dressings and sauces often call for vinegar or wine or citrus juice – all of which provide a recipe with its “acid” component. For “grapefruit vinaigrette” substitute the juice for all or part of the vinegar in your [basic vinaigrette.]

Grapefruit vinaigrette is excellent on a salad of shredded raw beets and shredded raw fennel.