Pass It On-Quesadillas with Guacamole

In Australia, there is a really popular monthly women's magazine called The Australian Women's Weekly. The magazine initially started out as a weekly publication in 1933, but is now a once a month magazine. Probably one of the most popular parts of the AWW are the recipes that can be found in the magazine. And they are so popular that The Australian Women's Weekly has published cookbooks that can be found in bookstores around the world. My mom has a few of these cookbooks at home, and they always have such tasty and interesting recipes in them.

When Chris and I first arrived here, we didn't have any recipe books, so we found most of our recipes on the internet. Then one day I was in a clearance bookstore where they had bunches of AWW cookbooks on sale. So, I picked up three of them and now we refer to the books all the time. They aren't big cookbooks (about 120 pages each), but they are packed with great recipes. I also was able to find the AWW Cooking School cookbook at the library, which is a more in depth cookbook (almost like the Joy of Cooking) that has some amazing recipes in it.

Either way, these cookbooks are great and we've tried a lot of the recipes from them. For this weeks Pass It On, I'm using one of the recipes from my AWW Chicken cookbook. It's a Chicken quesadillas with guacamole. We've tried this recipe a couple time and really enjoy it. Plus, it makes plenty of leftovers for lunches the next day. In my opinion, the best part is the homemade guacamole, which Chris makes each time. It's a great guacamole recipe that not only goes well with the quesadillas, but great with nacho chips.

I hope you enjoy this week's recipe!

Quesadillas with Guacamole (from The Australian Women's Weekly Chicken cookbook) -serves 4 Prep: 15 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes

1 tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small red onion, chopped finely
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (more if you like spicy food)
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 medium red capsicum, chopped finely
1 medium green capsicum, chopped finely
3 cups shredded barbecued chicken
8 large flour tortillas
2 cups coarsely grated cheddar

*Note: You need to purchase a large barbecued chicken weighing approximately 900g to get the amount of shredded meat required for this recipe.

Guacamole
1 tbsp. finely chopped fresh coriander
1 large tomato, seeded, chopped finely
1/2 small red onion, chopped finely
2 large avocados, chopped coarsely
2 tbsp. lime juice

1. Heat oil in large frying pan; cook garlic and onion, stirring, until onion softens. Add spices and capsicums; cook, stirring, until capsicums soften. Remove from heat; stir in chicken.
2. Place one tortilla on board; top with 1/4 cup of the cheese. Top with a second tortilla. Repeat with remaining tortillas, cheese and chicken mixture.
3. Cook quesadillas, one at a time, uncovered, in same large lightly oiled frying pan, over medium heat, until golden brown. Turn quesadilla, browned-side up, onto large plate then carefully slide back into pan, uncooked-side down. Remove from pan when golden brown both sides; cover to keep warm while cooking remaining quesadillas.
4. Meanwhile, place guacamole ingredients in medium bowl; mash with fork to combine.
5. Serve quesadillas, cut into quarters, with guacamole and, if desired, a dollop of sour cream and a little shredded iceberg lettuce.