Fun Stuff + Healthier Taco Bell Chicken Quesadillas

I can’t believe it’s Wednesday already.  These weeks just seem to fly by!

I’m so excited Halloween is tomorrow!  Eeee!  I LOVE Trick-or-Treating with the kids; I feel like I’m able to relive my childhood through them. 😉  I was sick with the flu last Halloween (along with my 5 year old), so we missed out on Trick-or-Treating and I was SO SAD!  I’ve told all the kids that no one is allowed to get sick this year.

So far, so good.

Speaking of Halloween, treats and kids….did you hear about the lady in North Dakota who is going to give out “fat letters” instead of candy to kids that she thinks are overweight??

I see her point, but man, I think that’s just cruel.

I do think parent’s need to be responsible and should teach their kids healthy eating and exercise habits, but kids should just be able to enjoy Halloween!  Some of my favorite memories as a child are of Halloween.

I usually let my kids enjoy the candy for a day or two and then offer to pay them if they let me chuck the rest of their candy.  Most of my kids are usually “down” with that and are happy to earn a little extra cash.

I feel like it’s a good compromise; my kids get to enjoy Halloween, but don’t overload on candy day after day after day.

Anyway, moving on….

I went to my crazy class at the gym this morning and loved it!  I snapped this picture just before class started…

I ended up in the far back corner and could barely see the instructor, but I’m still SO GLAD I went!

Kev is home from work today (yay!), so when I got home from the gym I talked him into going out to lunch with me.  We ran over to Costa Vida and it was so yummy!

I got the Raspberry Chipotle Chicken salad and it was awesome.

If you order this salad with everything on it and eat the entire tortilla, it’s 1157 calories, 33 grams of fat and 1988 mg of sodium! Yikes!  That doesn’t even include any dressing either!

However, I skipped the sour cream, fried tortilla strips, and only ate half of the rice.  I also ordered it with a whole wheat tortilla and only ate about 1/5th of it.

I calculated the nutrition facts for my salad to be 542 calories, 11.5 grams of fat and 1288 mg of sodium.  I didn’t use any additional dressing because I felt that the raspberry sauce, beans and guacamole gave it plenty of flavor.

It’s still high in sodium, unfortunately, but it’s a HUGE improvement in calories and fat.  It tasted so good to me and I’m STILL stuffed from eating this salad.

Oh, and Costa Vida has the coolest nutritional fact calculator that I’ve ever seen!  I wish all restaurants had one.  It would make it so much easier to make healthier decisions when eating out.

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I told you guys I was going to a fun Scouting program that my son was in last night, right?  Well it turned out to be the cutest program ever!  It was SOOOO well done.  I thought it might be a little boring because, seriously, how exciting can scouting be???  But, I was blown away.  It was phenomenal and such a great experience for my son!

I quickly fixed some dinner for the kids before I left last night and then grabbed a protein bar and fruit leather for me as I ran out the door.

Not necessarily the “dinner of champions”, but it kept me full and definitely fit the “easy, fast and convenient” bill. 😉

We snapped a few pics before the program started too.  My parents, sister and niece were at the program too.

After the program was over, I took ONE quick picture with my cute Cub Scout….

Thankfully, some of my friends who also had kids in the program took some more pics!  You can click here if you want to watch the program yourself.  It is darling.

Oh, and when we got home last night, my son quickly turned on the TV so he could watch his program that we recorded on the DVR.  He was a little disappointed because he only showed up on the TV once and he was kinda blurry.

I told my son he was just like “Mike Wazowski” from Monster’s Ink.  Have you guys seen the “I’m On TV” scene??  It’s hilarious.

Love it.

Well I told you guys I was going to share my “Healthier Taco Bell Quesadilla” recipe yesterday.  We make regular quesadillas quite often, but this recipe turns “regular quesadillas” into “awesome quesadillas!”

I found a “Copy Cat Taco Bell Quesadilla” recipe online, so I adjusted it a bit to make it a little healthier and more kid friendly.

Here’s my version of the recipe….

Healthier Taco Bell Chicken Quesadillas

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chicken; cooked and shredded
• 8 large flour tortillas (whole wheat, low carb, etc.)
• 2 2/3 cup shredded “Mexican blend” cheese

Sauce:

• 1/4 cup olive oil based mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup light sour cream
• 5 teaspoons canned green chilies; pureed
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

I found these tortillas at Costco and they are pretty healthy….

They are full of great, “real” ingredients, but they DO have 160 calories each!  Sooooo, I thought these were perfect for the kids, but I made my quesadilla on an 80 calorie low-carb tortilla and it was great.

Oh, and these “Truly Grain” Tortillas taste great and my kids liked them, but I thought they were a little bit thick and heavy (hence the 160 calories!)  I’ll keep looking for the “perfect” healthy-ish tortilla.

Directions:

• Puree green chilies in food processor.

• Mix pureed chilies, mayo, sour cream and spices in medium bowl until combined.  Cover and allow to sit in the fridge until the flavors combine (preferably about an hour.)
  **You can mix the sauce and use it immediately, but the flavor will be better if it’s allowed to sit in the fridge for a while**

• Preheat skillet over medium-low heat.  When the pan is hot, lay one tortilla in the pan.
• Sprinkle 1/3 cup of shredded cheese on half of the tortilla.
• Sprinkle 1/4 cup of shredded chicken on top of cheese.
• Spread 1 Tablespoon of sauce on other half of the tortilla.

• Fold tortilla in half and press down with a spatula.
• Cook until golden brown on one side and then flip it over and cook the other side until it is golden brown and cheese is melted.
• Remove from heat, cut into four slices and enjoy!
• Top with sour cream, salsa, guacamole, etc.

This recipe is really good and all my kids loved it!  Yes, I realize it’s still not the healthiest recipe EVER, but it’s a HUGE improvement from the original Taco Bell Quesadilla.

I calculated these nutrition facts using a typical Whole Wheat tortilla (130 calories.)  You can easily save on calories by using a low-carb tortilla (saves 50 calories) and only using 1/4 cup shredded cheese (saves 35 calories.)  You could also use reduced fat cheese too.

Healthier Taco Bell Chicken Quesadillas

 

Author: Melanie @ HappyBeingHealthy.com

Nutrition Information

• Serves: 8

• Serving size: 1 quesadilla
• Calories: 385

• Fat: 20
• Carbohydrates: 25
• Sugar: 1
• Sodium: 655
• Fiber: 2
• Protein: 18
• Cholesterol: 46

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  5 mins

Total time:  15 mins

Print

This recipe is easy, yummy and tastes very similar to Taco Bell Chicken Quesadillas! They are much healthier too. 😉

Ingredients

• 2 cups chicken; cooked and shredded
• 8 large flour tortillas (whole wheat, low carb, etc.)
• 2⅔ cup shredded “Mexican blend” cheese
• ¼ cup olive oil based mayonnaise
• ¼ cup light sour cream
• 5 teaspoons canned green chilies; pureed
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions

1. Puree green chilies in food processor.
2. Mix pureed chilies, mayo, sour cream and spices in medium bowl until combined.
3. Cover and allow to sit in the fridge until the flavors combine (preferably about an hour.) **You can mix the sauce and use it immediately, but the flavor will be MUCH better if it’s allowed to sit in the fridge for a while**
4. Preheat skillet over medium-low heat. When the pan is hot, lay one tortilla in the pan.
5. Spread 1 Tablespoon of sauce on half of the tortilla.
6. Sprinkle ⅓ cup of shredded cheese on other half of tortilla.
7. Sprinkle ¼ cup of shredded chicken on top of cheese.
8. Fold tortilla in half and press down with a spatula.
9. Cook until golden brown on one side and then flip it over and cook the other side until it is golden brown and cheese is melted.
10. Remove from heat, cut into four slices and enjoy!
11. Top with sour cream, salsa, guacamole, etc.

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I hope you guys love this recipe.  It’s quick, easy, yummy and kid friendly.  What’s not to love????

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