Long Walk Warm Food

Despite the pelting rain and cold damp air yesterday Jon and I ventured out onto the beach for a walk along the shore. We started out out down by Little Beach (also known as Harbor Beach) and made our way along the shoreline in the direction of Howe's Beach. We walked along the ice shelf picking our way along the naturally made trail for a half an hour or so. It was a great walk, so refreshing and peaceful. There's something about a deserted winter beach and cold salt air that can really clear your head. I was starting to go a little stir crazy and after the walk I felt totally refreshed.
The walk pretty succesful too, we found 3 lobster buoys and about 20 yards or so of rope. My husband puts out lobster traps every year so he was happy to find perfectly usable stuff just washed up on the beach.
By the time we got home I had that cold to the bone, almost achey feeling. I don't consider this a bad thing, I actually love the feeling you get after being out in the cold wet weather because then you can come inside take a hot shower and just totally relax. And that's just what I did, and it was awesome. Ten minutes in a steamy hot shower, then changed into cozy clothes and settled in with the book I've been reading. Which is a good book by the way, worth reading. It's titled Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls, she also wrote The Glass Castle.
So after a little bit of reading I got my totally relaxed but off the couch to make dinner. I tried something that I have eaten many times but never actually made at home, Quesadillas. They were so good and super easy. Low prep, low clean up, and you really can't screw them up. They made an awesome comforting dinner, I served them with Zatarians Red Beans & Rice, but they'd be great for an app or snack as well. I had a leftover triangle for lunch today and it was really good cold too, all the flavors had blended togther and the jalapenos had kind of blended into the cheese and gave it a really nice bite. If you're interested the recipe is below. You could play around with this too, add corn, peppers, avocado or whatever you're in the mood for. For those of you are looking to keep to a food budget, like myself, its a super affordable meal as well. We are actually going to make burritos tonight with the leftovers!!

Chicken Quesadillas
serves 2
3/4 lb boneless chicken breast
2 plum tomatoes chopped
red onion diced - use as much or as little of this as you want
canned jalapenos chopped - optional
1 cup shredded mexican blend of cheeses
1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
season chicken with lemon juice, salt, and pepper
place on grill pan and cook through
once cooked shred the chicken or dice into small pieces
place a layer of chicken on top of one tortilla, sprinkle with desired amount of tomato, red onion, jalapenos, and cheese (keep in mind that you do need a fair amount of cheese to make it good and gooey)
top with a second tortilla and place the whole thing on the grill. grill on each side for about 3 minutes or until tortilla is crispy and golden in color. Remove from grill and place on a sheet pan, repeat with second quesadilla. Once they are both toasted place them in the preheated oven for abotu 10-15 minutes until the cheese is completely meleted. Remove from oven, cut into quarters and serve.