This weekend, I realized around lunch time that I was pretty low on groceries (don't you hate when that happens?!).  Looking around the fridge and cabinets, I found these ingredients and decided to throw them together.  Turned out to be a super delicious and nutritious option! 

Black Bean and Pineapple Quesadillas
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:
15 ounce can of black beans, drained and rinsed
15 ounce can of corn, drained and rinsed (preferably no added salt)
2 tomatoes, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
1 jalepeno, chopped
¾ cup of fresh pineapple, chopped (or chopped pineapple canned in juice, drained)
¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese (12 tbsp – 2 tbsp per quesadilla)
6 tortillas (preferably whole wheat - unfortunately we only had white left this weekend, as you can tell from the photo above!), approx. 7-8 inches diameter

Directions:

1. Mix first 6 ingredients in a large bowl.  
   
2. Heat a skillet on low-medium heat.  Spray skillet with a little cooking spray.  Place tortilla on skillet, and fill one half with 1/6th of the black bean mixture.  Sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese on top.  Fold over empty half of tortilla.
   
3. Cook for 2 minutes, then flip (ingredients may fall out a bit in the flip - just push them back in the tortilla) and cook for an additional 2 minutes, until cheese is melted and ingredients are warm.
   
4. Enjoy!
   

Nutrition Analysis per serving (will vary slightly depending on the type/brand of tortillas):
372 calories, 9 grams of fat, 59 grams of carbohydrate, 10 grams of fiber, 16 grams of protein
Also provides the following vitamins and minerals, shown as a % of their daily values:  18% Vitamin A, 69% Vitamin C, 51% folate, 16% calcium, and 22% iron

I thought I’d do a quick post on mangos tonight, since I’ve had two different people ask me about them in the past week!  I love mangos, and was excited to write up this post because it meant I got to treat myself to a yummy snack after taking the pictures. 

Mangos are very nutritious, containing only about 135 calories each, over 30% of your daily Vitamin A needs, and over 90% of your daily Vitamin C needs.  You can eat them alone as a snack, make a fruit salsa to top some fish, throw frozen mango into a smoothie, or add some chopped mango to a curried chicken salad for sweet twist.

The most common question I get is how you eat the fruit.  Although some people eat the skin of mangos, in the ripe fruit it is often thick and bitter tasting so it’s not typically consumed.

Here’s the easiest way I’ve found to cut up the fruit:

1.  Slice down between the center and side of the mango.  The inner part of the mango has a single large seed inside that is a bit odd (it kind of feels like a pumice stone).  You’ll want to cut off the two sides, leaving only the seed and a little fruit on the inside.  Start with one side to figure out which direction to cut.

2. Slice down the other side, so you have two sides with most of the fruit.

3. Cut a checkerboard pattern into the flesh, being careful not to cut thru to the skin.  If you hold this in your hand while you cut, be careful not to cut thru the skin and cut your hand.

4. Flip the skin inside out.

5. Slide the knife along the skin, cutting off the pieces of fruit.

6. Cut off any more fruit that may still be in the middle, and enjoy your delicious snack!