food to glow

This quick, Mexican-inspired breakfast vegetable quesadilla is loaded with fibre and colour. An easy way to eat towards your 10-a-day.

*Jump to Recipe*

Do you want an easy way to eat veg in the morning, before you’re even out the door? With no juicing, smoothie-ing, or heating up leftover dinner?

Let me introduce you to the breakfast vegetable quesadilla. Ready in about ten minutes, it really is so simple and so filling. And, of course, mighty scrumptious. Grated sweet vegetables, shredded leafies, a scrape of refried beans, and optional gooey cheese and vegan bacon – what’s not to love?

This is something that I have been enjoying for breakfast and brunch over the years, but thought it was too damn simple to write up. And then I posted it on Facebook and Instagram and got such a great reaction that I thought, well maybe you might like it too. I hope that you do.

Why eat vegetables for breakfast?

Like many people who do similar jobs to myself (I am a cancer health educator here), I am hot on encouraging people to get in as many vegetables as they can.

Vegetables – fresh or frozen – are one of our best ways of getting in a wide variety of naturally derived essential nutrients and other bioactive compounds without too many calories and sugars. A meta-analysis by Imperial College London, of 95 global studies that included around 2 million people, found that while eating the UK and US-recommended 5-a-day of fruit and vegetables did indeed reduce disease risk, eating more was better.

In fact the researchers didn’t pussyfoot around with their findings:  “the team estimated approximately 7.8 million premature deaths worldwide could be potentially prevented every year if people ate 10 portions, or 800 g, of fruit and vegetables a day.”

Of course it depends on what you do with them. If we plunge them in hot oil until crisp it rather detracts from their innate goodness. However delicious the result.

Fruit is important of course, but it is easier for most of us to go for fruit (sweet; easy to prep) over vegetables (less sweet; what the hell do I do with a rutabaga?). And most of us are getting a lot of sugar already. I’m not doing a downer on fruit. Not at all. Adding blueberries to a steaming bowl of porridge, and slinging an apple into your backpack is routine for many of us. Thankfully. No preaching required.

But vegetables can be a harder sell. And vegetables for breakfast harder still.

This easy recipe is just the place to start.

>>>Here’s my article, How To Learn To Love Vegetables.

What are some other ways to eat veg first thing?

Traditional Western breakfasts typically rely on toast, cereal, pastries, bagels: largely starchy, largely processed; largely empty calories. When part of a wider breakfast containing protein (think eggs or nuts/nut butter) and lower-sugar fruit like berries these “easy” carbs can contribute to a nutritious breakfast. I make my own sourdough bread and often enjoy a slice with a poached egg and stir-fried greens, or a slippery pile of sautéed mushrooms. I freaking love carbs! And yes, sometimes I just love a plate of pancakes.

But my breakfast will almost always include a vegetable, sometimes several. I often have a quick stir fry of sorts with pan-fried strips of smoked tofu or maple tempeh. Because I do this fairly often this takes just a teensy bit longer than than the time it takes for the bread to toast. Storing chopped tofu and thinly sliced veg in the fridge makes it even quicker. If I have leftover roasted vegetables they get gently heated, with maybe some cooked beans, a handful of seeds, or an egg on the side.

I seldom have avocado on toast these days – mainly for this reason – but when I do it holds a teetering pile of vegetables: kimchi, sprouts, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, grated carrot. Sound tempting? Tempting and helluva filling, I say. 🙂

My love for the glorious socca – chickpea flour crepe – is another story. If you know me you know I love my soccas thin and crisp-edged, and covered in vegetables and something spicy from Andrew’s hot sauce stash. When I make up the batter the night before, I just need to stir it well and swirl into a hot, lightly oiled pan and be eating the lacy, satiating wonders five minutes later. This is one of the most filling ways to start the day that I know. I will share a recent way I’ve been eating them soon.

But this breakfast quesadilla is something that I encourage those who attend my workshops to try on a weekend, when schedules are slightly more relaxed. Trying a new recipe on a Tuesday morning whilst simultaneously plaiting hair and filling lunchboxes is not a good idea – no matter how easy I tell you the recipe is.

On hectic days I of course go the easy route. Quick carbs don’t need to be synonymous with unhealthy. Scrape some crunchy peanut butter on wholegrain toast; toss some seeds into your fibre-rich cereal; stir your favourite berries into piping hot porridge. But at the weekends, instead of heading out to breakfast, or cooking up the usual fry-up, why not chop some veggies, sauté them up and slap them in a flaky wholemeal tortilla?

What’s in this breakfast vegetable quesadilla?

Sweet potato – skin-on, and grated to ensure quick cooking and maximum sweetness

Spring onions (scallions) – these cook very quickly

Kale – of course this is here; it’s me, Kellie!

Shiitake mushrooms – any mushroom is good but shiitake is my go-to

Some mild spices – allspice, cumin, tiny pinch of cayenne

Refried beans (or mashed pinto/black beans) – homemade is good but canned is fine too – get the kind with the least sodium and fat (usually they are low in both)

(Vegan) bacon or chorizo – Tofurky brand Treehouse Tempeh smoky maple bacon is my choice. And it’s really the only tempeh Andrew will let pass his lips.

Fibre-rich bread wrap – I love Crosta & Mollica brand organic piada whole-blend Italian flatbreads. These are absolutely gorgeous, and flake up temptingly when pan-toasted. Miles better than any other bought flatbread I’ve ever had. A UK brand, made in Italy.

You can of course add other vegetables, or do some substitutions. No sweet potato? Carrot will do. Hate mushrooms? Why not use defrosted artichoke hearts (or as well as)? And of course, frozen or fresh spinach instead of the kale. Sweetcorn, pepper slices, chopped courgette are all welcome here, too.

What will you add to your breakfast vegetable quesadilla? 

What are your favourite ways to eat vegetables in the morning?

 

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RIPE FOR PINNING!