Broke Butt Dinners: Bean and Cheese Quesadillas

When you don’t have any money to spend, life is incredibly stressful. You can’t afford to do anything that you want to, but more importantly, it puts a strain on your ability to even do things you need to; like going food shopping.

When we’re short on cash, I can live without take out, but I can’t starve. And more importantly, my family can’t starve.

I’ve been there before. Where the choice is either figure out how to make a dinner out of whatever is in the pantry or what’s left in the fridge at the time, or… well, not eat. And that’s just not an option when you have kids.

Even if you’re trying to save money, the first thing to get cut out of the budget is extravagant meals. Plain, boring and filling is the way to go when you’re pinching pennies.

I’ve been in both places before. I can honestly say that the pressure of trying to make each penny count because there might not be another one is infinitely more stressful than voluntarily stashing away cash like a squirrel stashes nuts for winter.

In either case, necessity is the mother of invention! So my desperate times have caused me to get very inventive over the years, and I hope you can benefit from this recipe!

My favorite part about this recipe: everything you need to make it, you probably already have in your pantry and fridge.

Who doesn’t have a can of beans in their pantry? Or at least dry beans? How about a half-finished jar or salsa? A few pinches of shredded cheese and maybe some leftover slices of cheese? A few random leftover corn or flour tortillas? (If you don’t have tortillas stashed in the back of your fridge, you can get a 30 pack of flour tortillas for $4.40.)

Great! Then you can make this.

Bean and Cheese Quesadillas

• 2 cans beans, or 2 cups dry beans soaked in water overnight, then cooked on the stove on low for a half hour or until soft (black or kidney or whatever you have)
• 1 cup salsa
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1 c. (ish) cheese
• 1 package flour tortillas

1. Dump one can beans (drained and rinsed) into dish
2. Smash beans with potatoes masher (I like this one)
3. Add 1 c. salsa
4. Drain and rinse second can beans, and rough mash them (not totally mashed)
5. Add cumin and mix togther
6. Dole liberally onto one side of tortilla
7. Add cheese on top of beans
8. Put another tortilla on top
9. Put right on hot skillet (or if you have one of these, you’re even luckier, no flipping needed!)
10. Flip until cheese is melted and tortilla is lightly toasted.

You can have some guacamole and sour cream (or greek yogurt) for dipping on the side. Plus, if you’re like me and love spicy things, keep a bottle of your favorite hot sauce handy to add a little kick.

The best part about this recipe (other than how yummy and easy it is), I had some extra bean filling, so I made some cheesy bean burritos to freeze. When you’re ready to eat them, defrost them and then put them on a skillet to get it nice and toasty.

I wound up with not only dinner for that night, but lunch the next day and plenty of leftovers for lunches and dinners when I’m in a pinch.

Super easy, super cheap, and super kid friendly.