Zucchini Quesadillas

The summer of zucchini is upon us. We have two very happy {read: heavily producing} zucchini plants and we get one monstrous zucchini a day, on average. Which, as you can imagine, is a LOT of zucchini! Good thing it's a versatile vegetable and one that we really enjoy. And because this is my blog, and I write about what I cook, you can count on quite a few zucchini recipes for your cooking pleasure. :)

Recipe adapted from marthastewart.com.

Quesadillas:

4 tablespoons olive oil {divided 3,1}

1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced

salt

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 medium {or 1 large} zucchini, halved lengthwise & thinly sliced crosswise

1 small can sweet kernel corn

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, rough chopped

1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced {optional}

4-8inch {or 2-16inch HUGE} tortillas

2 cups grated pepper jack cheese {or 1 cup pepper jack + 1 cup Mexican cheese blend}

Toppings:

black olives

sour cream

guacamole {quick and dirty: 1-2 large avocados, smashed + a bit of season salt}

sliced jalapenos

Preheat oven to 400.

1) In a large skillet, heat 3 tablespoons of the oil over medium heat. Add onion and a dash of salt. Cook until onion softens slightly, approximately 4 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook 1 more minute.

2) Add zucchini, corn and bell pepper {if using} to the skillet. Cook until zucchini and bell pepper are tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in cilantro.

3) Brush one side of all tortillas with remaining tablespoon of oil {if you don't have a pastry brush, you can use a paper towel}. Lay 2 tortillas {or 1 if using big tortillas} oiled side down, onto a baking sheet. Place half of the zucchini mixture on each {don't overload}, and top each with cheese. Place remaining 2 tortillas {or 1 if using the larger tortillas} on top, oiled side up. Press down gently with a spatula.

4) Bake until cheese has melted and tortillas are golden brown, approximately 12 minutes. **If your tortillas aren't too heavily loaded with zucchini goodness, you can attempt to flip the quesadilla to brown the other side, but I didn't attempt this...1) I didn't want to risk the whole thing falling apart and 2) I used huge tortillas and it was just too large to flip without catastrophe. Honestly, it didn't matter if both sides weren't browned. It's tasty no matter what!**

5) Remove from oven and let cool slightly so the mixture and cheese have a chance to meld together. Slice into wedges using a pizza cutter. Top with extra cilantro, sour cream, guacamole, black olives, and/or jalapenos!