Tuna Sandwiches & Soup

Ok, folks, I think I'm back. Not full-force HausFrau, but back nonetheless. We are happily living in the new Haus in Virginia with the bare minimum of everything - including kitchenwares. Currently, my kitchen utensils include:

one big pot, one little pot, one sautee pan
spatulas & serving spoons
2 decent knives
cutting board
metal bakesheet & large stoneware bar board
grater, strainer
few pieces of plastic storage containers w/lids
2 sizes of Ziplocks

What I am missing that I should have thought of . . . vegetable peeler, can opener & corkscrew.

Yep, I'm subsisting on screwtop individual bottles of wine.

Not only is the kitchen mostly bare, Man is in class for the next 4 weeks at Belvoir & I have to play taxi service (both AM & PM). Obviously, there's preciously little time for cooking & working the magic. So, for the next month, our dinners will be as simple as possible.

Tonight's meal (right after I borrow a can opener from one of my uber-nice neighbors):

Tuna Salad Sandwiches on Whole Wheat Bread

albacore tuna, celery, apple, eggs, red onion, Kosher dill pickles, Miracle Whip & pepper

Served with:

celery & carrot sticks, cucumber slices
chips
canned soup: choice of beef or chicken (I loaded up a Costco last week)

I also found some awesome raspberry/vanilla swirled gelato & we will be having that for dessert.

Pasta with Pesto & Shrimp

Food Category: PG, Bum Lovin'
Difficulty: Easy

Boil whole grained pasta according to package directions. Once cooked & rinsed, toss with pesto sauce.

Serve with shrimp. Sautee 1/4 cup chopped onion & 5 slices of center cut bacon. Drain the fat. Sautee raw (peeled, tail on) shrimp in a bit of evoo & add back the bacon & onion. Season with basil, salt & pepper.

Side dish: frozen, nuke-in-the-bag mixed veggies (corn, baby carrots, asparagus) and green beans.

Stir Fry Veggies & Rice

I've been so far behind that I am posting this just so I can have it on record -- for when I run out of meal ideas!

Stir Fry in evoo: shredded cabbage, carrots, bean sprouts, onion & pineapple. Season with soy sauce & sweet chili sauce. Add leftover Sticky Chicken.

Serve with Jasmine rice.

Chicken Club Salads

Food Category: PG, Bum Lovin', High-5
Difficulty: Easy

The good stuff:

lettuce
shredded carrots
sliced cucumbers
radishes
avocados
chopped leftover Sticky Chicken breast.

The really good stuff:

2 slices center cut bacon
1/2 serving grated cheddar
1 boiled egg
croutons
fat free 1000 Island dressing

Pineapple Sweet & Sour Chicken with Jasmine Rice

Food Category: PG, High-5
Difficulty: Easy

Pssst. Here's what is keeping this meal from being Bum Lovin': I pan fried (not even spritzed with evoo & baked!) lumpias, wrapped them in foil & kept them in a warm oven until ready to serve. They were so good!

Start the cooking prep by marinating 3 chicken breasts for at least one hour.

Chicken Marinade

Thinly slice 3 chicken breasts & 1/2 of an onion. To the chicken & onion add:

• 2-3 T of sweet chili sauce (It's in the picture below on the far right - purchased at the commissary.)
• 2 T of pineapple juice (from an 8 oz can of pineapple chunks)
• 2 T of soy sauce
• 2 t sesame oil
• 1 clove crushed garlic
• few shakes of run-of-the-mill chicken seasoning

Stir Fry Veggies

• Cut 2-3 large carrots into thin strips, not quite Julienne
• Stir fry in a bit of evoo for 3-4 minutes
• Add 2 cups broccoli florets & continue to cook until almost tender crisp
• Add 2 cups of cole slaw mix & stir fry for 2-3 more minutes
• Season with salt, pepper, sesame oil & soy sauce
• Remove from pan and set aside

(If using frozen broccoli, cook in the microwave & toss with the other veggies at the end of the cooking process.)

Stir Fry Chicken

• Add a bit more evoo to the pan over high heat
• Toss in the marinated chicken and stir fry until cooked through
• Remove chicken from the pan, leaving the juices
• Set chicken aside

Sweet & Sour Sauce

Mix together with a wire whisk:

• 1/4 c Splenda Brown Sugar Blend
• 1/2 c vinegar
• 1/2 c pineapple juice (the rest of the juice of the 8 oz can)
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1/2 c water w/1 teaspoon chicken granules (or 1/2 c chicken broth)
• 2 heaping T of cornstarch
• 1-2 t sesame oil
• 1-2 T sweet chili sauce

Bring pan juices to a boil & add the sweet & sour mixture. Cook over medium high heat until the sauce begins to thicken. Add the pineapple chunks & remove from heat.

Serve with Jasmine Rice, cooked in a rice cooker & lumpias, either pan fried or spritzed & baked!

Leftover potential: Straight up leftovers for lunch. To reheat the eggrolls, wrap in foil and bake in the toaster oven until heated through. Remove foil & bake for a few more minutes to crisp them up.

Texas Beer Chili

Food Category: PG-13, High-5
Difficulty: Easy

Tonight, I added a few more veggies & less meat than I normally do, but it still turned out characteristically HausFrau delish. The veggies are definitely in the background & won't be obvious to any veggie-haters. Of course, you can always used an extra 1-2 pounds of meat & less veggies and beans.

Texas Beer Chili:

• Brown 2 lbs of lean ground beef in a big ol' soup pot, remove from pot & drain fat. Set aside.
• Add about 2 T evoo to the pot & chopped tri-color bell peppers. I chopped most of 3 peppers - the rest is in the fridge for a future meal - maybe cheese steaks or minestrone.
• Sautee on medium high heat until the peppers have given up most of their liquid.
• Add the chopped onion. One large or 2 medium. Sautee with the peppers until most of the liquid is cooked off.
• Add the shredded carrots. About 2 large carrots -- double handful.
• Toss the drained meat back into the pot.

• Heat meat & veggies over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes.
• Add 350-500 ml of beer -- preferably a German Dunkel.
• Toss in a lot of crushed garlic - about 4-5 decent sized cloves.
• Continue to cook until the beer has reduced by half.

The picture is cloudy because of all the steam coming off the beer.
But this is an idea of how much garlic to add.

Now it's time to add: can of pumpkin, large can of crushed tomatoes, 3 cans (6 cups) of beans (your choice as to what kind), 4 cups of beef broth (or beef granules in 4 cups of water) & chili seasonings (I totally cheat and use Carroll Shelby's Original Texas Chili Kit -- it's got great flavor & has never not made an awesome pot of chili. Don't add the masa thickening agent until later!).

Stir everything together & reduce heat to medium low. Continue to cook for 45-60 minutes. Once the veggies are looking thoroughly cooked, add the masa, stir & remove from heat.

Tonight we made Frito Chili Pie -- just ladle the chili into a big bowl & top with Fritos, extra-sharp cheddar & chopped chives. Other great toppings: sour cream, chopped red onion, chopped tomatoes (if that's you thang), chopped peppers, etc.

Leftover Potential: Hopefully, you'll have leftovers. I was so incredibly sad the one time I took chili to a potluck lunch. I was hoping to come home with leftovers for dinner but ended up having the potluck participants practically lick my crock pot clean. I came home with dirty dishes & a house that smelled wonderfully of chili. But, sadly, no chili. Leftover chili will hang out in the fridge for a few days & it freezes well. Besides chili pie, you can slap chili on hotdogs, baked potatoes, nachos or serve it with cornbread.

Teriyaki Chicken & Stir Fry Veggies

Food Category: PG, High-5, Bum Lovin'
Difficulty: Easy

Stir Fry Teriyaki Chicken

• Marinate 3-4 servings of chicken breasts in Teriyaki-Garlic sauce for 3-4 hours.
• Slice chicken into thin strips & pat dry with paper towels.
• Sprinkle with ground ginger.
• Stir fry with evoo over medium-high heat with thin slices of onion & one garlic clove.
• At the very end of the cooking process, season with Teriyaki sauce, sesame oil, salt & pepper.
• Once chicken is browned, remove from pan, cover to keep warm & set aside.

Stir Fry Veggies: Zucchini, Carrots, Sugar Snap Peas

• Slice one large zucchini into half-moons.
• Sautee in evoo until tender crisp.
• Season with sesame oil, soy sauce, salt & pepper.
• Remove zucchini from pan & set aside.
• Add more evoo to the pan & sautee sliced carrots until about half cooked.
• Add sugar snap peas & continue to cook both the carrots & peas until tender crisp.
• At the end of the cooking process, season with sesame oil, soy sauce, Teriyaki/garlic sauce, salt & pepper.

Serve with rice cooked in the rice cooker.



Leftover potential: Straight-up leftovers work. Also, everything will keep well in the fridge for a few days. You can stir fry the whole kit & kaboodle to make fried rice. Veggies & chicken can be frozen and later added to soup.

Taco Salad

Food Category: PG, Bum Lovin', High-5
Difficulty: Easy

Taco Meat:

1 lb ground sirloin
3 oz tomato paste, 6 oz water
cumin, chili powder, onion & garlic powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, salt

Salad were assembled with:

lettuce greens
sliced cucumbers
shredded carrots
shredded extra sharp cheddar
taco meat
sour cream
Haus salsa
crushed tortilla chips
jalapeño peppers
fat free Catalina dressing
garnished with fresh cilantro

Served with: bean & cheese nachos chips,
heated on lowest microwave power until cheese melts


Of course, you can seasoning your meat with a packet of taco seasoning, but I don't. I have the spices on hand & just shake everything in until it tastes good. Here's a recipe for homemade taco seasoning mix if you are into the HausFrau thing & saving money. Also, I've recently started adding tomato paste to my meat since cooked tomatoes are a SuperFood & this is a tasty way to consume more.

I mix up taco salads several different ways depending on what I have on hand. Other ingredients that work well: corn, pinto/kidney/garbanzo beans, avocados tomatoes, green/red onions, & grilled bell peppers.

Leftover potential: Extra meat, salsa & beans can be used later to make kick-butt tortilla soup. All extra salad ingredients can be used for a side salad for another meal.

Minestrone with Tortellini

Food Category: PG, Bum Lovin, High-5
Difficulty: Easy

The minestrone soup I make is very similar to this recipe on Allrecipes. With the following exceptions:

• one medium onion
• chicken broth or granules in water, not just water
• large can of crushed tomatoes instead of sauce
• red wine is never optional
• add one can of Northern beans
• frozen green beans, not canned, and double the amount
• season with dried thyme, oregano & basil
• tri-color cheese tortellini instead of shell pasta
• & I don't spray anything with evoo, what's that all about anyway?

garnish with freshly grated parmigiano/reggiano & fresh basil

Leftover potential: This soup will hang in the fridge for a few days & should freeze well, although I never have. Just keep the pasta and the soup separate until ready to serve.

Orange Chicken & Rice

Food Category: Easy, PG, High-5

Difficulty: Easy

Stir-Fry Fresh Veggies

Sautee sliced onion, snow peas & Napa cabbage (that's what I had in the fridge from the night we had Asian Salads) in evoo & remove from pan.

Orange Chicken

Cook according to package directions. I also added a few small pieces of the Tyson chicken strips the girls had for dinner.

Add back the stir-fried veggies & a package of microwave steamed veggies.

Serve with:

Rice made in the rice cooker.

All said and done the "quick" meal from the freezer ended up being almost as much work as cooking from scratch. The portions were very skimpy, the taste "just okay" & not really worth the expense ($4.29).

Next time, I'll make something more along the lines of this Tyson's Sweet & Sour recipe. I may even use cut up breaded chicken strips (or nuggets!) so that it's more like real take-out. It really depends on how much we need to watch calories that particular night.

Ok, so dinner wasn't anything to brag about, but breakfast was! Check out the pancakes MiniMe & I made this morning. We used a medicine syringe to make the faces & had a Spook-tacular time.

Asian Salad

Food Category: PG, Bum Lovin', High-5
Difficulty: Easy

Here's my first official repeat with Asian Salad with Tuna

This time the salads were made with:

• red tipped lettuce
• Napa cabbage
• sugar snap peas
• shredded carrots
• chopped red onion
• sliced cucumbers
• pineapple chunks
• Sweet & Spicy Starkist Tuna
• rice noodles
• a drizzle of teriyaki garlic sauce
• Newman's Own Low Fat Sesame Ginger Dressing

And, we had smoothies for dessert:

• frozen chunks of bananas & pineapple
• frozen whole strawberries
• mixed with just enough orange juice & skim milk to blend

I made Chex Party Mix in the crockpot yesterday & it turned out great - so great that it's all gone today. There are lots of great recipes at the Chex Website if you need inspiration.

For this mix, I used wheat, rice & corn Chex, oyster crackers and broken stick pretzels, packet of Ranch seasoning mix, several generous shakes of parmesean cheese, a bit of seasoning salt & just enough butter & olive oil to coat the mix, probably about 1/4 cup total.


Melt the butter in the microwave, mix in the oil & seasoning, then pour over the cereal mix (already in the crockpot). Stir to evenly distribute the butter & cook on high for 15-20 minutes or until the cereal starts to warm up. Switch to low for about 2 hours, keep uncovered. Stir occasionally & sample often.

Have the kids make some for your next get-together. It's really, really good served warm right out of the crockpot.

Stir Fry Chicken & Veggies

Food Category: PG, Bum Lovin', High-5
Difficulty: Easy

Stir Fry Chicken

marinate 2 chicken breasts in soy sauce
cut into tiny bite size pieces
stir fry in olive/canola oil
season with teriyaki garlic sauce
remove from pan, set aside

Stir Fry Veggies

stir fry broccoli florets & sliced carrots in oil
remove from pan

stir fry frozen Mandarin veggies in oil
when cooked, toss back in the broccoli & carrots
season with teriyaki garlic & soy sauce

Rice

plain old white rice cooked in the rice cooker

Leftover potential: Straight-up leftovers for later in the week. Extra meat & veggies can be frozen & added to soups later. Leftover rice can be re-invented into fried rice w/meat, veggies & scrambled eggs.

Crispy Chicken Salads

Food Category: PG, High-5, Bum Lovin'

Difficulty: Easy

Crispy Chicken

Tyson's Crispy Chicken Strips,

baked in the oven until crispy

When cripsy, cut into chunks &

toss on the salad greens.

Salad

• lettuce
• shredded carrots
• radishes
• cucumbers
• real bacon bits
• chopped boiled eggs
• tomatoes (for Man only!)
• croutons

Honey Mustard Dressing

Mix together until it looks/tastes right:

• Lite Ranch dressing
• spicy mustard
• honey
• pepper
• sprinkle of onion/garlic powder/dry mustard
• chopped fresh parsley (optional)

This meal is quick and easy & only 600-800 calories depending on how much of the bad good stuff you add to the veggies. I'm all out of fresh spinach or I would have mixed 1/2 lettuce, 1/2 spinach. Grated cheddar cheese is also good with this salad, but we don't have any. It's been over 3 weeks since my last commissary trip & I'm not going this week either.

Leftover potential: The dressing will hang in the fridge for a while & extra chicken can be reheated in the toaster oven.

Pita Pizza

Food Category: PG, Bum Lovin', High-5
Difficulty: Easy

This one is dedicated to all the working mamas who are too darned tired to cook after work. Have the kinder assemble their own pizzas & serve on paperplates.

Pita Bread Pizza

whole wheat pita bread

topped with:

• crushed tomatoes, seasoned with oregano, basil, garlic
• mozzarella & parmesean
• ham
• fresh snipped basil (toss on when pizza comes out of the oven)

Side Salad

• lettuce
• shredded carrots
• cucumbers
• tomatoes (for Man only!)
• Newman's Own Light Balsalmic Vinaigrette

Preheat oven & baking stone to 400F. Assemble pizza & place onto hot stone (the stone keeps the bottom crust from being undercooked & soggy). Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the cheese is golden & bubbly.

The pizzas can also be cooked in a preheated toaster oven.

I've also made these with various kinds of whole wheat flat bread with great results.

This meal is totally diet friendly & healthy. Enjoy!

Leftover potential: I never have any because I make "just enough". Should you have leftover pizza, encourage kinder to eat it cold out of the fridge, it's way less effort on your part.

Fillet of Fish

Food Category: G-Rated, High-5, Bum Lovin'
Difficulty: Easy

Fish

Totally out of the box Gorton's:

• Garlic & Herb Crunchy Breaded Fillets
• Garlic Butter Grilled Fillets

Tartar Sauce

• Light Miracle Whip and/or Light Mayo
• dill pickle relish
• lemon juice
• finely grated onion
• pepper & lemon herb seasoning

Oven Fried Potato Wedges

• sliced unpeeled potatoes into skinny wedges
• toss with evoo & season with salt, pepper, garlic & onion powder, seasoned salt or pommes frites seasoning
• bake at 400F for 20-30 mins, turning frequently until desired crispness

Broccoli & Carrots (both fresh & steamed in microwave)

I don't measure anything when making the Tartar Sauce. Just throw ingredients together until it looks/tastes good. However you mix it up, it will taste mucho better than the kind in the jar.

To speed up the baking time for the potatoes, place unseasoned potato wedges in a microwave safe bowl & cover with plastic wrap. Microwave on high for a few minutes. This little bit of precooking will pull a lot of the water out of the potatoes. Don't overcook potatoes in the microwave - you want the potatoes to still be "hard" to the touch - just with less water. Drain water, pat potatoes dry with papertowels. Then add olive oil and seasoning & bake in the oven. These potatoes are really good sprinkled with parmesean cheese right before serving.

For a healthy dessert:

Orange-Pineapple-Banana Smoothies

• frozen bananas (peel and freeze in chunks)
• frozen pineapple (freeze either fresh or canned - reserve the juice)
• 1 orange, zest first, then peel & remove seeds

Blend orange zest & whole orange with just enough skim milk, orange juice or pineapple juice to get the blender going & pulverize the orange. Add frozen fruits & more liquid. Again, just enough liquid to keep the blender going. You may have to stop frequently and spoon the frozen masses down to the blades & add small amounts of juice or milk.

You want the smoothies so thick that you have to spoon them out of the blender & eat with a spoon (not straw!).

Hello, my name is HausFrau and I am hell on blenders, but I make awesome smoothies.

The fruits & veggies & grilled fish are all totally bum lovin'. If you are dieting, just be careful with the breaded fish, the potatoes & tartar sauce.

Leftover potential: Tartar sauce will keep in the fridge for a few days. Straight-up leftovers are an option. Potatoes can be added to omlettes. Veggies can be frozen for soups later. Fish can be used to make fish sandwiches for lunch. Leftover smoothies are yuck -- so bottoms up!

Grilled Cheese & Vegetable Soup

Food Category: PG, High-5
Difficulty: Easy

Grilled Cheese

• whole wheat, whole grain bread (I bought mine fresh from the local bakery!)
• I can't beleieve it's not butter - light
• Provolone, extra sharp cheddar, monterrey jack
• garlic powder

Vegetable Soup

from the fridge:

• corn on cob
• celery
• carrots
• onion

from the freezer:

• leftover: mashed potatoes, peas, corn, some kind of meat, mixed veggies (corn, baby carrots, asaparagus), more mixed veggies (broccoli, carrots)
• prepackaged frozen spinach
• leftover gravy

from the pantry:

• can tomoato paste
• can beef broth

season with salt, pepper, garlic & onion powder, basil

Here's a note about my Freezer Ziplock Veggie Bag: for leftover veggies that would otherwise be wasted, I toss them into a frezer bag. By not tossing that last little bit of peas/carrots or potatoes or the leftover grilled veggies, you can fill up a freezer bag fairly quickly. The veggie bag can be the foundation for the best soups you will ever make.

Leftover potential: This meal is actually leftovers in action. Soup will keep in the fridge for a few days. I suppose you could freeze the soup (if no potato chunks or pasta), but I won't. Those veggies have been hanging out in my freezer long enough as it is.

Asian Salads

Food Category: Bum Lovin', High-5
Difficulty: Super Easy

Asian Salads

The Salad Part:

• mixed salad greens
• spinach
• pineapple (fresh or canned)
• mandarin oranges
• cucumbers
• shredded carrots
• sliced green onions
• sugar snap peas
• shredded cabbage
• tri-color bell peppers

The Protein Part:

• tuna, I highly recommend Starkist Tuna Creations Sweet & Spicy
• or seasoned chicken breast

The Good Stuff:

• sprinkle of cashews
• sprinkle of sesame seeds
• sprinkle of ride noodles
• Newman's Own Sesame Ginger Low Fat Dressing

And, because you are being so darn good for dinner, how about some dessert?

Peaches & Cream

• slice/wedge two fresh peaches
• add to heated butter & brown sugar (as little as possible) in a non-stick skillet
• cook until yummy
• add splash or two of brandy or amaretto & cook alcohol down
• sprinkle with cinnamon
• serve warm over low fat vanilla ice cream or yogurt

SuperFood Note: spinach, red/yellow peppers, tuna & yogurt (even the frozen kind, if it has live cultures) are all SuperFoods that help fight again cancers & heart disease

Leftover potential: leftover salads are totally yuck & leftover dessert? what's that?

Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches

Category: PG-13, High-5
Difficulty: Easy

Cheese Steaks

sautee tri-color peppers in evoo for a few minutes
add sliced onions & continue to cook until translucent & yummy
remove veggies from pan & sit aside

cook 3 servings of sirloin beef steak in the skillet
add any of the following to beef up the flavor:

• Worchestshire sauce
• steak sauce
• hamburger seasoning
• salt/pepper
• garlic powder

When the meat is cooked, add the veggies back to the pan.

Build sandwiches with meat/veggie filling & provolone cheese, preferrably on bread/rolls that have been lightly toasted on a stove-top grill.

You can also toss open-faced sandwiches into an oven with only the top burner on to make the cheese all bubbly & delish.

Serve with:

• Side Salad
• carrot & celery sticks, sliced cucumbers
• individual bags of chips

The prepackaged beef steaks have quite a bit of sat fat. I always cook the meat and remove as much of the fat as possible - either by draining, rinsing with hot water and/or patting with paper towels. I use 3 servings of meat to make 4 sandwiches. The more veggies: onions/peppers, the less meat needed to fill a sandwich.

I can only get full-fat provolone. Maybe you can find reduced-fat and save a few calories.

I also make my Philly Cheese Steaks with worthless white bread steak rolls or a French baguette. If you are looking for a healthier alternative, I'm sure you can find a higher fiber roll (especially if you are in the States).

The more veggies in the sandwich & the bigger the side salad, the healthier the meal. 3 cups total of sauteed onion/peppers, salad and raw veggies equals the 5-a-day requirement.

If you stick with individually packaged chips & limit yourself to one bag, this meal is not that bad calorie wise.

Careful with the meat, cheese, chips & salad dressing. Especially if you aren't planning on a food porn night.

Leftover potential: Any leftover meat/veggie mixture can be used for omlettes, quesadillas, fajitas, stirfry or frozen & tossed into soups later.

Tortilla Soup & Cheese Quesadillas

Food Category: High-5, Bum Lovin', PG-13
Difficulty: Easy

Tortilla Soup

sautee onion, celery, tri-colored peppers & sliced carrots until tender crisp
add chicken broth (homemade, canned or flavor granules)
bring to a boil & add remaining ingredients, your choice as to which ones & how much:

• zucchini & yellow squash
• beans (pinto, black, kidney)
• corn (canned or frozen)
• green chiles (to taste, remember they are flavorful)
• crushed or diced tomatoes (or Rotel if you skip the chiles)
• leftover peas, green beans & mashed potatoes work well with this soup too
• leftover fajita meat & chopped up grilled veggies
• leftover chicken or turkey

seasonings/spices:

2 cloves of freshed minced garlic
cumin
chili powder
roasted red pepper seasoning
Sazón (1-2 packets)
salt/pepper
onion & garlic powder
envelope of taco seasoning if you don't have the other stuff in your kitchen

Cook the soup on low until veggies look good to you. You may also finish this up in the crockpot.

I usually make this soup broth-based to keep the calories down. The beans add the most calories, but it's all good carbs & fiber. You can add cheese/velveeta to the soup based on personal preference. Leftover fridge/frozen mashed potatoes thicken up the soup, but with added calories.

When serving the soup, top with crushed tortilla chips (like Tostitos), shredded cheese (we like cheddar & pepper jack), sour cream & fresh cilantro. Certainly, the toppings add lots of flavor, but pack quite the punch to the fat/calorie content (thus the PG-13 rating). You have been warned.

I'm making a double batch of this soup to cover us for dinner tonight & a Mexican Potluck tomorrow. Soups are usually better the next day, so it's not like the Potluck people are getting the scraps. I'll just reheat in the crockpot.

Cheese Quesadillas

Laze-E won't touch my soup & Man will want something more Manly.

These will be simple quesadillas, only slightly more difficult than nuking the flour tortilla & cheese. Spray tortilla with olive oil & heat on a med-hot skillet. Flip, add cheese, fold over. Flip to the other side and serve.

Leftover potential: This soup does well in the fridge & freezer. The most flavorful way to reheat quesadillas is by wrapping in foil and tossing in a toaster oven. Microwave works too, but only use half-power.