Copy Cat in the Kitchen: Fajita Quesadillas

As I mentioned in a previous post, Rambunctious 9-Year-Old Boy (R9B) and my better half (B1/2) chose several recipes from Roberto Martin’s Vegan Cooking for Carnivores. I asked R9B to pick the recipe for this installment of Copy Cat in the Kitchen. We went with Fajita Quesadillas (making B1/2’s portion with a gluten-free tortilla).

Normally, quesadillas are a standard item on the Cat Cave menu, but we’ve been laying off dairy lately due to the kids’ tissue issues. Nondairy cheeses haven’t gone over well, so I was a tad anxious about the reaction to this recipe.

As a food-conscious parent, the blessing is that this recipe is mostly vegetables. That’s also the curse. Would the kids eat it?

A soy-based cheese gets mixed in with sautéed vegetables and is then spooned into the tortillas for quesadilla-fying. B1/2 saw the mixture in the bowl and commented that it didn’t look like there was enough cheese (I point out the first word in the recipe name is fajita). But once she gets a taste of the Chipotle Cream called for as a condiment (the recipe is in the book), she tells me to hurry up already.

The Cat clan gathers for the meal. R9B asks what’s in the quesadilla. My anxiety meter is in the red—we’re out of leftovers. “It’s a quesadilla,” I say. “Just eat it.”

R9B takes a bite. Then another, and another. He likes it. Hey, Mikey! Best of all, he’s eating a primarily vegetable filling. He finishes his first quesadilla and asks for a second.

Picky 2-Year-Old Girl (P2G) takes the tiniest bite of a corner of her quesadilla—all she got was a bit of tortilla. She puts it down. Her standard mealtime chaos ensues, natch. After several minutes, she retreats to mommy’s lap (much to B1/2’s chagrin).

B1/2 didn’t care for the state of her rice-based tortilla substitute, and she thought the filling was bland and didn’t have enough cheese. But she said the Chipotle Cream recipe was worth the price of the book. She’s thinking about other recipes that could use that condiment.

The Scorecard

Three clean plates out of four, plus seconds for yours truly and R9B.