Flank Steak and Poblano Pepper Quesadillas - 10 Smart Points

Um, hello!  Who doesn't love a steak quesadilla?  Yeah, it is a little on the pricey side but it helps when the Flank steak goes on sale to nab some then!

This fit into the Family Favorite category because, duh, it's a quesadilla, which kids love!  For me, it's a Favorite simply because it was so simple to make!

Ingredients:

12 oz lean flank steak
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 Tbs olive oil
2 poblano chiles, sliced
3 oz reduced-fat Monterey Jack Cheese shredded (about 3/4 c)
4 (8") whole-wheat flour tortillas
vegetable cooking spray
1/4 c fresh pico de gallo
1/4 c fat-free sour cream (optional)

Directions:

1. Sprinkle the steak with the salt and pepper and heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the steak and cook until the desired degree of doneness, 4-5 minutes per side for medium-rare. Remove the steak from the pan and let rest at least 5 minutes before slicing. 
2. Add the sliced poblano peppers to the same pan stirring often until lightly browned and tender. 
3. Cut the steak across the grain into thin slices.  Sprinkle half of the Monterey Jack cheese evenly over half of each tortilla and top evenly with the steak, peppers and remaining Monterey Jack. 
4. Fold each tortilla in half over the filling. Lightly coat the tortillas with cooking spray. 
5. Heat the same skillet over medium heat and place 2 quesadillas into the skillet cooking until the Monterey Jack cheese is melted and the tortillas are lightly browned on both sides.  
6. Cut each quesadilla into 3 wedges.  Top evenly with the pico de gallo and if desired sour cream!

YIELDS:  4 Servings
SERVING SIZE:  3 quesadilla wedges and 1 Tbs pico de gallo (add extra for sour cream)
SMART POINTS:  10

Nutritional Information:  Calories 319, Fat 13.5 g (sat 4.9 g, monto 6 g, poly 1.1 g), Protein 27 g, Carb 22 g, Fiber 1 g, Sugars 1 g, Chol 68 mg, Iron 2 mg, Sodium 550 mg, Calc 322 mg

The Freezer Door Featherbrain

There is something so liberating about gaining wisdom and insight with age, especially into your 40’s.  I by no means feel that I know everything about anything.  I love to learn and relish the opportunity to do so every single day.  I consider all possibilities. 

I can’t help but notice those around me who seemingly thrive on attempting to make others feel Foolish while at the same time attempting to present themselves as superior in some way, shape or Form.  I always think, “What if it wasn’t that at all and was in fact X or X?” 

This week while shopping, I believe I encountered one of these Featherbrains. 

As I shopped in the Freezer aisles, I was busy and on a deadline trying to Fulfill an order paying great attention to detail when I heard someone behind me shut a nearby Freezer door while loudly proclaiming “Don’t *these people* know how to shut a door!?”  I am assuming at this point this exclamation may have been directed at me.  I’m not even sure it was.  I walked away laughing without ever Feeling the need to glance in said person’s direction.  I mean, I heard her shut said door, so what would be the point?

I know most everyone is Familiar with the Fact that most grocery store Freezer aisle doors shut all on their own upon just letting go and that every once in a while one can stay open. 

When *I* see an open Freezer door, I don’t think “What idiot Failed to shut this door!? gasp--put on huge display of disgust for whomever I’m with as I save the world by shutting it.   But apparently some people do just that, which I Find a little sad and yet comical at the same time--sad for obvious insightful reasons and comical when thinking of the situation from a more seasoned level. 

This is something an immature Freaking teenager would do because Freaking teenagers lack Foresight.  You see, their brains are still underdeveloped.  But upon encountering an adult behaving in such a way, it is a bit sad.  I wonder how sad her life must really be.  I marvel at how her obnoxious display and proclamation of such self importance (assuming someone else is lazy or stupid) makes her Feel better or superior in ANY sort of way.  

 

It’s sad because this person obviously suffers with some sort of superiority/inferiority complex situation and a lack of insight as to all the possible reasons that door may be open.  She obviously goes from zero to sixty from nothingness to assuming something horrible with no in between.

Hey, Featherbrain, I have some news for you.  It is a Fact that some Freezer doors just get stuck open when a person’s hands are Full and they have turned their back to it to place items into their grocery carts.  Just because oh so important, considerate, life-saving, Freezer-door-shutting you came along before they turned back around or before they noticed they hadn’t heard the telltale sound of a Freezer door slamming shut as they walked away, doesn’t mean you are actually saving the day or that you have a right to speak to someone that way, even in an obvious secondhand manner to the person accompanying lovely you.  I hope the person you were with who laughed at your awesomeness was super impressed and made you Feel Far superior to everyone else in the store. 

I wondered…had she ever helped a store employee stock some empty shelves?  Had she ever taken the employees treats to say thanks for all of their hard work?  Had she ever rearranged a shelf putting an incorrectly placed item in it’s correct location?  Had she ever helped anybody in the store at all?  I mean TRULY helped someone?  Hey, but great job on that lone Freezer door she caught there with accompanying criticism!  Here is that loud round of applause I Feel that she was seeking.  I wondered how many other people she may have tried something similar with throughout her day, week, or month.  Do you think she had similar encounters at work, at a gas station, at the movies?  Everyone must be rude and inconsiderate to people like her.  There are obviously no other possibilities to her.  

Thanks for the chuckles and thanks for making me even more grateful I am who I am…somebody who would have done one of two things, one being quietly walking up to an open Freezer door and quietly closing it without having to prove to someone else what a great person it made me, but most importantly having done so without attempting to hurt, embarrass or belittle another while believing that another person just didn’t realize the door was stuck open, and the second being an actual offer of assistance of "Hey, let me help you with that! I got it!" upon seeing someone with their hands Full.  

Confidence that doesn’t allow others to make you feel ashamed, embarrassed, or stupid  Freaking rocks!  And if it wasn’t directed at me and instead at another, I hope that person had that confidence too!  I can’t imagine living in Featherbrain’s world.

Confidence versus ignorance, immaturity or a dysfunctional personality complex…..what is the difference here with me referring to this person as a Featherbrain you may be asking and is something I actually considered?

A Featherbrain is a Foolish scatterbrained person, with scatterbrained meaning there is an inability to think clearly, so I chose to refer to this person as a Featherbrain.  Firstly, because it gives me an F word for today, but secondly because their obvious assumption that the ONLY reason that door was open was due to a lack of consideration on the part of another person makes her Foolish in my eyes with an underdeveloped ability to assess situations accurately at the very least.

Is there a better F word for this situation?  Let me know!