#1,582: Pizza-Dilla (Super fast and simple pizza quesadillas)

This is by no means a unique or complicated recipe...and one that I honestly could have come up with myself.  But, it's only fair to give credit, when it is due.  The last 2 years I've let the kids get hot lunch 95% of the time because it's so much easier for me for them to eat hot lunch and not have to deal with making lunches, remembering lunchboxes, or cleaning more containers each day.  BUT in an effort to be healthier, I know that my girls need to be bringing lunches to school instead of eating the highly processed, sugar and sodium laden school lunches.  I feed my students the same lunch that my own children are eating and I know two things: they are not healthy and a lot gets wasted.  So I went in search of healthier options and ideas to make for the girls starting in the next few weeks. 

One thing my kids do like, and is SO simple are quesadillas.  We make them often and in fact, I'm on my second quesadilla maker!  ; )  Last week I met up with my cousin, Alisa and she turned me on to these fresh (only 5 ingredient!) tortillas.  I was so excited to get these for my family and try them out.  I didn't tell them that we were using "new" tortillas and they had no idea these were any different than ones that we traditionally buy.  These are SOOOO good.  I will definitely be buying these again and again.  You have to pre-cook them, but I just pulled out my electric griddle and they were done in no time!  (They literally take 30 seconds per side.  Then I filled them with some pizza sauce and cheese and popped them in my quesadilla maker.  Simple and much healthier than what they would be getting at school.  

Only one of my kids loves pepperoni and none are veggie pizza eaters, but I do think I'm going to get the veggie sausage and add that next time for some added protein.  

The recipe below basically tells you to make a cheese and pepperoni quesadilla and then dip in marinara sauce.  That's fine...but I put pizza sauce and cheese inside the tortillas and they didn't need the dipping sauce then.  

Pizza-Dilla

1 tablespoon canola oil (I omitted)
4 (8-inch) fat-free flour tortillas (I used the ones pictured above)
6 ounces shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1 ounce turkey pepperoni (I omitted this time)
1 cup marinara or pizza sauce

I put this in my quesadilla maker so I did as follows:
Spread pizza sauce on one side of a tortilla.  Sprinkle on cheese and any desired pizza toppings.  Top with another tortilla.  Place in quesadilla maker and bake until browned.  

If following the original directions: 

Preheat oven to 400°.  Brush canola oil over a jelly-roll pan, and top with tortillas. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons cheese over each tortilla, and divide the pepperoni among tortillas. Top each with 3 tablespoons cheese. Bake at 400° for 5 minutes. Remove from oven, and carefully fold each tortilla in half. Bake an additional 10 minutes or until browned and crisp, turning after 5 minutes. Serve with marinara.