Chipolte Chicken and Veggie Quesadillas

I had no problem trying to use up the last of the chicken & chipolte peppers that never made it into the chicken salad. Another one of my all time favorite dishes was made, Quesadillas!!! I love, love, LOVE 'anything goes' dishes.Our kitchen in the new apartment is interesting. It's pretty large compared to the rest of the place, with a ton of cabinets, and way more counter space than I'm used to. But it has an 'apartment sized' oven. My pots and pans touch each other when on the burners. My cookie sheets touch the sides of the oven. I can't figure out why this is when there is so much space. And there are no outlets on the counter. Weird. I'm not complaining at all, I love my new spacious kitchen, its just a little strange. I predict some interesting baking situations may arise because of it.

aRISE, get it? Get it?

I crack myself up sometimes.

Oh boy.

Anyways, I ended up baking the quesadillas, but because they were so large I couldn't fit them side by side in the oven, so I stacked them between pieces of aluminum foil. To ensure each quesadilla maintained crispiness (a very important quality), I baked each tortilla on the oven racks for a few minutes until desired crispiness was achieved. I then built the quesadilla and placed them on a cookie sheet and baked until the cheese was just melted, holding everything together. Because I sauteed all stuffing ingredients, this worked perfectly because everything except the cheese was already hot.

Chipolte Chicken and Veggie Quesadillas
Printable Recipe
by Kacey's Kitchen

• 4 flour tortillas
• 2 tbsp butter
  
• mushrooms, chopped
• onions, chopped
• chipolte peppers in adobo sauce, chopped
• crushed red pepper
  
• leftover chicken, chopped
• mexican cheese mix (or a combination of shredded cheddar/jack cheeses)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
   
2. Heat butter in a large pan and sautee mushrooms, onions, chipotle peppers, and chicken until onions and mushrooms are soft, 5-10 minutes. Add crushed red pepper if desired.
3. Place 4 tortillas on oven racks for approximately 2 minutes on each side, or until crispy but not burnt.
4. Remove tortillas, sprinkle a generous handful of cheese over a tortilla. Spread out a layer of the chicken mixture over cheese, coming within 1/2 inch of edge.
5. Top with another handful of cheese and place tortilla on top. Gentle press down making sure not to crack tortilla. Repeat with other tortillas.
6. Place on cookie sheet and bake until cheese is melted, approximately 5 minutes.
7. Remove from oven, let sit for a minute, cut into slices and serve with salsa, sour cream, guacamole, and saffron rice (if desired).