Brussels, Bacon + Bean Quesadillas. (with homemade blue cheese dip.)
I’ve learned maaaaaany things in this marriage of mine.
Things like:
How to sleep without any covers.
How to grill, well… anything.
How to stock to a fridge so it overflows yet still produces nothing worthy of eating.
How to clean a bathroom without having to touch much of it.
How to unplug a hair dryer every time I use it.
How to ignore a four hour NASCAR race.
How to use up every inch of closet space.
How to coerce someone into enjoying unloading the dishwasher.
How to love country music.
How to ignore the rest of his music.
How to justify any food/shoe/candle/[insert materialistic item here] purchase.
How to sleep (or lay there with my eyes closed) next to jet engine snoring.
How to make a mojito.
How to drink a mojito. (or ten.)
How to have the house to myself for the night. *
How to turn someone into a major cheese lover.
And just last week – how not to make a quesadilla.
This would be it. This would be the quesadilla that supposedly shouldn’t ever be made.
And I made it with a chicken quesadilla, so you know, OPTIONS. But was greeted with an “absolutely not” when I attempted to serve it and a “brussels sprouts in a quesadillas? You’re insane,” sort of look.
But you eat Brussels spouts in other things? So how can you pass them up when they are in buttery, crisp tortilla shells with bacon and cheese?
DIDN’T MATTER.
I ate the quesadilla on my own.
Today marks exactly five years of marriage for Eddie and me and that is completely insane. There are so many things that I thought would be different – like other jobs (worse ones), other homes (better ones), kids (cute ones?) and expectations (dumb ones.) It’s entirely too fitting that I’m sharing a recipe today that he wouldn’t even eat, not because he doesn’t enjoy my food (that would be a gigantic disaster in this life of mine) but because it symbolizes the life that we’ve come to love together where things aren’t always (or ever) perfect.
I also feel that, you know, being married and all and having to admit when you’re wrong (um, never?) also gives you a chance to get to know someone better than they know themselves. Which is why I can say that the minute he walked through the door that night, I could instantly tell he wasn’t in the mood to try something new. I wasn’t totally shocked when he thought Brussels in a quesadilla seemed way too weird, but had it been three years ago I would have bugged (nagged) him about it until he possibly 1. took a bite or b. became annoyed and ignored me for the rest of the evening.
Instead, I decided to just hang out and shove this quesadilla in my face while secretly knowing that he would love the combination and that most likely, within the next three months, he will eat it and totally forget about the night that he said it sounded gross.
So yeah. That’s what it’s all about. Five years, down the hatch! Hopefully 100 more to come, with lots of Brussels sprouts quesadillas.
Brussels, Bacon + Bean Quesadillas
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 pound brussels sprouts, stems removed and sliced
- 1 cup cannellini beans, if canned, drained and rinsed
- 6 ounces smoked mozzarella cheese, freshly grated
- 4 multigrain or whole wheat, (8-inch) tortillas
- olive oil or butter for crisping up the tortillas
homemade blue cheese dip
- 1/3 cup plain greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1/2 tablespoon honey
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add bacon. Once the fat has rendered and the bacon begins to crisp, stir in the sliced brussels and cook until they are soft, about 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in the garlic and the beans and cook for another minute. Turn off the heat.
- Heat a large electric griddle or skillet (or even the same skillet, just empty it) over medium-low heat. To assemble the quesadillas, add a little smoked mozzarella on one side of each tortilla then cover evenly with the bacon brussels mixture. Top both with the remaining cheese and tortilla. Add a little olive oil or butter to the skillet and place the tortilla in once it’s melted. Cook until the outsides are golden brown and crisp and the cheese has melted, about 3 minutes per side.
homemade blue cheese dip
- Whisk together the yogurt, mayo, honey, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add in almost all of the crumbled blue cheese, then spoon the dip into a bowl. Top it with the remaining crumbled cheese.
Did you make this recipe?
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I appreciate you so much!
*put on a Girl’s marathon. Works like a charm.
116 Comments on “Brussels, Bacon + Bean Quesadillas. (with homemade blue cheese dip.)”
Happy Anniversary! My husband and I are celebrating 15 years today! Love your recipes and your blog-
congrats to you!!
Oh…Happy 5th Anniversary! You and Mr. How Sweet are so blessed to have found each other. I love brussels sprouts. This quesadilla looks delicious!
Happy Anniversary! October is for lovers! My husband and I are celebrating out 10th next Friday. And we both love brussels sprouts so these will be happening soon.
early congrats!
Happy Anniversary! Cheers to Brussels sprouts and funding our other halves.
CONGRATS JESSICA! Love your fresh perspective and attitude too. I hope you guys have a wonderful time celebrating (with or without brussels sprouts.) PS. If there are any leftovers, I’ll take them off Eddie’s hands ;-)
Happy Anniversary!! I get ya bout the Husbands saying gross combination! I get that all of the time! I think your quesadillas song simply amazing and I would be happy to stand with you over your stove and shove these bad boys in our mouths!! Love that you made a blue cheese dressing to go with it!!
Congratulations to you and Eddie! I love your fresh and honest way of sharing little tidbits of your marriage. I see so many similarities between yours and my own. In the blogging world, so many women avoid talking about the imperfections in their marriages and that can be depressing when you’ve just had a fight with your husband over the fact that you used HIS towel! To many more years of happiness… !!
Well, for the record – your hubs OBVIOUSLY missed out. Love this recipe, I’m definitely making it …. man, I love brussels.
Congrats to the both of you guys! I pretty much laugh my ass of this whole post. If was a fun one and I need that today (blog issues still going on)!
I personally dig this quesadilla, but I can totally see how a guy would not. They don’t seem to like odd food combos, even if the like all the ingredients. I don’t get it. More for us!
Hope you guys have an awesome day!
Happy anniversary to you two! Wishing you many more years of happiness and out of the box food combos. :)
These sound awesome, btw.
Yep relationships are hard work, that why I will remain single forever. Haha. Happy anniversary! I wish you many more years of discovering each others quirks and finding happiness in love them.
Happy Anniversary to my anniversary twin! I have 4 more years on you tho. Enjoy :-)
happy anniversary to you!!
Yay! Congrats! Yay love!
And I love that you know he’ll like this eventually. :) That’s the trick!
And i think this looks so tasty! Put anything in a quesadilla and I’ll eat it… except maybe celery, but with enough cheese anything is possible, ya know?
Happy anniversary Jess (and Mr How Sweet!) I know cheese and bacon are the way to your heart, but Brussels sprouts are the way to mine so I think I’ll enjoy these just as much as you!
<3 this is such a lovely post! Happy Anniversary to you and Eddie I hope you have many more imperfect & blessed years to come (with a lot of brussels sprout quesadillas)!
So cute!! Happy Anniversary to you both!! xxoo
Happy Anniversary! Quesadilla looks delicious–too bad about Eddie not liking them! Maybe five years from now, he’ll be eating them up… or maybe not, haha
Awww what a sweet post. I love how the honesty of your marriage resonates so much in this one! Congratulations to the both of you :)
“How to stock to a fridge so it overflows yet still produces nothing worthy of eating.” —-> story of my life.
Also, I just have to put on Real Housewives and Connor will disappear from sight! Happy anniversary to you and Eddie! You guys sound like the perfect pair ;)
this is a particularly fitting post since I am newly engaged :) Congrats Jess! I am still in the habit of force-feeding my fiance my veggie-centric dishes.. I guess eventually I’ll give him space lol.
and ps – this recipe RULES. going through the most major brussels obsession right now and this fits it to a T.
Happy Anniversary. I totally agree with the knowing “someone better than they know themselves.” It’s hilarious and annoying and rewarding, all at the same time. Mostly in the sense that my husband knows all my crazy/messy self and loves me anyway. :)
Also, these quesadillas look amazing and I want to eat them immediately. I think the bacon might persuade my hubby to overlook the brussel sprouts…
Yum! Seriously Yum! These look soo soo good! The dip looks easy and amazing!
Happy Anniversary!
I’m not so sure about the quesadilla combo either, but I won’t knock it til I try it :)
Happy Anniversary! :) xxoo love yinz.
Happy anniversary!! :) Loved the list of things that you learned!
And I love that you are mixing things that “shouldn’t be”, it’s awesome! What a coincidence that I bough brussels sprouts yesterday and was wondering what to do with them. ;)
happy anniversary! and holy crap does this look amazing.
Awww congrats!! What a lovely post!
What a fabulous combo you created! Bacon, brussels and blue cheese, the triple b’s!
Congrats – lots of love!!
My boyfriend and I are going on ten years next Spring, but we’ve only been living together for about 6 months and I have definitely learned a lot in that time! Talk to me another 5 years down the road, lol.
P.S. – I hate brussell sprouts, but I’ll eat just about anything when it’s covered in cheese. Yum!!
My husband and I just celebrated year one on Sunday and I’m certain we are you four years ago!!! Sleeping with no covers, my life. Full fridge yet nothing to eat, my life. Nascar Sundays, my life. Nagging him to try anything that is not meat, potatoes or mild cheddar cheese, my life on the daily! Ha. The plus side to his boring palate…I don’t have to share much!
These quesadillas look amazing. I definitely plan on making them…and he’ll enjoy a chicken and cheddar version.
Happy Anniversary!
congrats on one year!
My husband and I are celebrating 4 years today! And I was suffering through jet engine snoring last night (why do snoring husbands fall asleep so much faster??), so I feel your pain there.
congrats to you!!
i read about this as soon as i woke up and suddenly cheerios really didn’t sound good.
http://semiweeklyeats.blogspot.com/2013/10/mother-and-child-reunion.html
This dish looks amazing. Regardless of the combination, the appearance alone warrants at least one bite. I struggle so much about “what to cook”. Mr How Sweet doesn’t know how good he has it. Neat idea. Happy Anniversary!!
ka
I LOVE this idea!
Happy Anniversary! I would definitely eat a Brussels sprouts quesadilla. Yum.
This looks sooooooooo amazing! AND OMG I just saw your new picture in your “about” section below and you look SO adorable! Ugh ♥
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! And to many more! I love your imperfectly perfect marriage! I hope to one day find the same, but that isn’t (if at all) happen for a long long while!
Also I am pretty sure your justifying of purchases is oddly rubbing off on him…he made some comment about shoes I was contemplating buying and I was like wow that so sounds like something you heard from Jessica!!
Anyhoo congrats!
xoxoxo
p.s. THE NEW PICTURES ARE AMAZING AND I WANT TO REPLICATE EVERYONE. But in a non-creepy way. Okay I will stop now. :)
I don’t like quesadillas, but I think the filling on it’s own or on top of a salad (with the blue cheese dip as dressing) would be divine!
Happy anniversary!
happy anniversary!!!!!! (extra exclamation points) my husband and i are celebrating 15 years next thursday. it flew by. i’m still working on getting him to eat brussel sprouts
15 years!! early congrats. :)
Happy anniversary! I often forget how much i like quesadillas, until I see something mouth-watering like this :) Using smoked mozzarella cheese is a great idea!
Whoa……… brussels in a quesadilla? Gnarly.
hehe love the idea of you putting on Girls really loudly and him seeing about five seconds and running.
Your husband is obviously insane… as this looks like THE most delicious thing EVER.
Congrats! Since 50 years is the “golden anniversary” and 25 is the “silver anniversary,” 5 years can be the “lots of diamonds anniversary,” right? ;) I mean, it’s worth a shot!
Also, those quesadillas are making me drool. Hot cheese squished into crispy tortillas is easily the meal I miss most since having to stop eating all dairy food/drink. Me gusta!
I have been eating a sandwich very similar to this (from Heather Christo) every day for a month. A MONTH. I’m obsessed. I think (even though I’ve had my sandwich already today) I’m going to make this for my 2nd lunch. Heck to the yes.
Also, happy anniversary!! I hope you two get to do something fun together!
Happy Anniversary. It’s amazing that things change and that you begin to just accept them more. Your story about how 3 yrs ago it would have bugged you if he didnt even try at least one bite, but that by the look on his face you just knew tonite was not the night to go there…yeah, that is a powerful story as it can be applied to so many facets of life and marriage. And the same can be said for parenting. Definitely a choose your battles thing. And it’s always a work in progress. So happy for you guys on your 5 years!
And this actually sounds amazing to me. I love brussles and that melty cheese looks sooo good!
Happy anniversary to you and Eddie! My hubs and I are celebrating 4 years today!! :) There just maaaay be steaks on the grill and a massive chocolate cake cooling on my kitchen counter right now…..just maybe kinda sorta. :)))
What a great story! I thought this sounded a little weird, but crazy enough to work. I mean, how bad can anything be with bacon on it? I definitely will be trying this (and my boyfriend will also probably be like ew, gross, and then eat it all up).
-Jen
yourstrulyjen.com
I love a good quesadillas and that definitely looks like a winner! Great recipe :)
Happy Blogging!
Happy Valley Chow
HAPPY ANNIVVVVV! Tell Eddie it could be worse. I don’t know what would be worse for him, but something has to be.
Right?