Stacked quesadillas and orange and poppyseed cupcakes

So far this year, we have had my Mum's, brother's, and Dad's birthdays. Now it's time for Mr Bite's family to step in, with his Mum and sister celebrating their birthdays this month. (And then it is his birthday in April!) We went to a Thai restaurant for the main family celebration for Mr Bite's mother, but also had her to our place for dinner last week.

When considering what to make, I was inspired by the memory of a stacked vegetarian quesadilla dish that I made for the first time last year. Mr Bite greatly enjoyed it, but sadly for him he rarely has it - it is difficult to make the dish for only one, and I don't like the cheese or avocado components (my avocado tastes are still limited to dessert form...). We need to have at least one dinner guest to make the dish worthwhile, and last week seemed a good opportunity.

Quesadillas are usually made as two tortillas sandwiched together, grilled or fried to make something that is almost akin to a toasted sandwich. This version has several layers and I heat it in the oven after compiling it, which makes things slightly easier if other dishes are being prepared and you want to put it aside and forget about it (the photos posted here are from before it went in the oven, which is why the cheese isn't melted).

One of the things I like about this dish is that some of the vegetable and bean filling can be kept aside and served separately, to suit people like me who enjoy the bean component but not the avocado or cheese.

We had this with extra burrito bread, salad, extra tomato salsa and avocado, and the tofu in barbecue sauce that I have posted about previously.

I still love that tofu.

The barbecue flavouring also fit in well with the more traditional Mexican dishes. All in all, the meal seemed to satisfy everyone and there were some helpful leftovers to see me through lunches over the subsequent few days.

Stacked quesadillas with extra Mexibean filling

Makes ~4 serves of quesadillas and ~4 side dish serves of Mexibean filling

Adapted from a Women's Weekly recipe for vegetarian quesadillas

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Ingredients

6 small tortillas, fajitas or burritos

1 can Mexibeans (regular kidney beans or beans of choice would work fine too)

1 tsp olive oil

1 onion, diced

1 tomato, diced

125g tinned corn (or fresh corn kernals)

1 zucchini, chopped

Few tbsp tomato salsa, mild or spicy to taste

1 avocado, chopped

Cheese, grated, enough for 5 layers and the topping

Method

Preheat the oven to 180'C.

In a non-stick pan, heat the oil and saute the onion until golden. Add the diced tomato, corn, chopped zucchini, Mexibeans, and ~2 tbsp of the salsa. Mix through and leave over low heat for 5 - 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

When the Mexibean mixture has warmed through, make your tortilla stack in a square or rectangular baking dish (or other oven-proof container).

Lay the first tortilla, spoon over a few heaped dessertspoons of Mexibean filling (enough to cover the tortilla evenly), add some chopped avocado and grated cheese, and then lay the next tortilla and repeat. You will probably use about half of the Mexibean filling.

After placing the top, sixth tortilla, spoon an additional ~1tbsp of salsa over the top and sprinkle with extra grated cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes, then cover with alfoil and bake for an additional 15 minutes. 

(If your partner goes to pick up his mother and unexpectedly decides to walk her dog as part of the trip, this will survive an extra 20 minutes or so in a low oven.)

Serve with the other half of the Mexibean filling (reheated just before serving), salad, spare salsa and/or avocado, and optional extra bread.

I didn't carry the Mexican theme through to dessert, and was instead inspired by the cake that my Mum made for my Dad for his birthday.

I didn't post about it at the time - mostly because I published the post in question before I had seen the cake! - but it was highly enjoyable.

His cake? A Ukranian poppy seed cake, with orange slices and chocolate orange medallions atop.

My version? Orange and poppy seed cupcakes with yoghurt 'cream cheese' icing and Lindt Excellence dark chocolate with orange.

My Mum had given me her cake recipe and I started off trying to adapt that by integrating it with cupcake versions of the orange and poppy seed theme. In the end, though, I just took the cupcake recipe I have used so many times before - the vanilla cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World - and adapted things from there.

There were quite a few adaptations, as a pantry weavil discovery (very traumatic!) meant I had to abandon my flour and make an impromptu supermarket trip to buy more. On returning, I discovered the weavils had also made friends with my cornstarch, so I omitted that (included in the original recipe above) and added commercial egg replacer instead, to ensure things held together.

These are clearly resilient cupcakes, because they survived the impromptu changes and kitchen challenges surprisingly well...

Orange and poppyseed cupcakes,

with yoghurt 'cream cheese' icing

Makes 12

The cupcakes are vegan; the icing could be veganised

Adapted from the vanilla cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Print recipe

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

1 tbsp poppy seeds, soaked in 1 tbsp non-dairy milk for 15 minutes

1/2 cup dairy-free spread (I used Nuttelex)

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Egg replacer to the equivalent of 2 eggs (I used commercial egg replacer but chia seeds would be an alternative)

Juice from 1 orange (about 1/2 cup)

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp plain flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Pinch salt

For the icing

3 tbsp non-dairy margarine

~3 tbsp plain natural yoghurt

2 1/1 cups icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Method

For the cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 180'C and line a 12-pan muffin tray with cupcake liners

Beat the non-dairy spread, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until light and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt). In a small bowl, prepare the egg replacer.

Add the egg replacer, orange juice, and apple cider vinegar to the sugar mixture and beat to just combine. Add the dry ingredients and stir through. Add the poppy seeds soaked in milk and stir through.

Divide between the 12 cupcake liners. Bake for 20 minutes or until just brown and an inserted skewer comes out clean.

For the icing

Combine the non-dairy spread and icing sugar and beat until starting to cream. Add the yoghurt and continue beating until light and fluffy.

Top with optional orange chocolate, or decorations of choice.

I had grave fears for these, given the interupted baking process, so it was with some relief that they came out of the oven looking normal - and even more relief that they ended up tasting rather nice. Light and slightly tangy, with an enjoyable contrast between the cupcake base and the icing.

The evening was a fun one and I think (hope) that Mr Bite's mother enjoyed the food. Mr Bite was very happy with the quesadillas and I was very happy with the cupcakes, so we were satisfied even if she was not!

Have you had any kitchen 'challenges' recently?
Or any meals you enjoy but which don't work for your usual house inhabitants?

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