rearranging of priorities

Well, dear reader, I have looked at this blank screen for a while and still I'm not entirely certain what to say. I mean, don't get me wrong, I have a nice little recipe for you, but I seem to have been taken over by writer's block.

And honestly, writer's block may or may not be a real thing, as the wonderful Marion Roach says. In my case, it may simply be a rearranging of priorities: I have been focusing on fiction-writing lately. Of course, here I am, writing about not-writing, so the point may be moot.


Here is the thing: I like simple food. Especially on weekdays, when I am tired from work and do not especially feel like preparing an elaborate meal for one. Lately, though, I started reading The Kitchn blog, which has been doing a whole segment on "three square meals" - which has got me thinking about things. I bought a bunch of bananas (for a dollar! How are bananas so cheap?) to have for breakfast. And I stumbled upon this genius idea during lunch week: freezing quesadillas for lunch.

I think you can guess what had to be done.

Unfortunately I won't be able to tell you if they make for a good lunch, since I will be having lunch with the boys. I'll update you tomorrow.


I can tell you this, however: these are delicious. As in, when I was done eating them for dinner, I was daydreaming about eating them for lunch. They are seriously good.

Black Bean Quesadillas
beans adapted from Orangette

cheddar cheese
tortillas
olive oil
1/4 large yellow onion
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 (heaping) tsp hot sauce*
1 garlic clove
1 can black beans

* This makes for very mild beans, though I admit I may be biased, thanks to Daniel. I even added more than this, and it wasn't spicy enough. So use your judgement!

Grate some cheese (I used cheddar, but feel free to use whatever you prefer!) and set it aside in the refrigerator. Dice the onion, as finely as you want chunks in the beans.

Pour enough olive oil into a saucepan to cover the bottom. Warm the oil on medium heat, then toss the onions in. Cook them for a while, until they are beginning to caramelize. Then it is really just a matter of tossing and stirring well after each addition: the cumin and oregano, hot sauce, garlic, then the beans and the can-juice. Reduce the heat a little and cook until the beans are warm and soft. Add salt (or additional hot sauce) as needed. (I used the Whole Foods brand black beans, and they were ready in no time at all.)

Turn the heat off and set the pan of beans aside. Grab a skillet, the tortillas, and the cheese out of the fridge. Set up your quesadilla-making station. (It really does help to have everything set up, so you can make as many as you want smoothly.) With these, it's best to keep the cheese to one side and the beans to the other. It's good to keep the beans not too close to the edge, or they'll spill out when you flip the quesadilla.