I really love this job of mine, but if I had to pick a few things I don’t love about it, washing the dishes and photographing quesadillas would be pretty high on the list. Honestly, you should see my first attempt at photographing these triangular nuggets. The sweet potato noodles inside didn’t help, and the photos were not cute. Not cute at all. So, I owe props to my friend Ali of Inspiralized, who always manages to make veggie noodles so enticing. She has a blog full of recipes, a best-selling cookbook and her own proprietary contraption that turns vegetables into noodle shapes (the Inspiralizer). She’s basically taking over the world, one veggie noodle at a time, and I’m really proud of her. Veggie power!
Last week, she invited a few bloggers (myself included) to Chicago to eat lunch at Houlihan’s, which is running a special “Inspiralized” menu through June. Ali provided direction and helped develop the menu, and I was so impressed by Houlihan’s execution. Did you know that they make everything from scratch? Plates of creative veggie noodle dishes kept showing up, and I found myself wondering why on earth I haven’t published more veggie noodle recipes. They’re really fun, and I’ll give two thumbs’ up to anything that entices people to eat more veggies. These quesadillas were roughly inspired by the sweet potato and corn “Mexicali” flatbread we sampled last week. They’re stuffed full of spicy sweet potatoes, which were easier to prepare and cook in noodle form—no chopping required—plus black beans and just enough cheddar cheese to hold them all together. If you’ve enjoyed my Southwestern kale salad or sweet potato burrito bowls, you’re going to love these.
