Tonight, I felt like making something cheesy, meaty, and flavorful for dinner. I also wanted it to be easy to make, since classes started today and I have things other than cooking to deal with. So I dug some steak out of the freezer to thaw and quickly threw together a tasty Mexican-style meal. A steak quesadilla is a great dinner when you’re busy, and it’s also a great dinner when you’re not busy at all. It’s all about taking simple ingredients and classing them up into a meal that will garner your housemates’ envy.
   
    Ingredients:
1/4 lb. steak, thinly sliced
1-2 tsps vegetable oil
1 flour tortilla, burrito size
1/2 cup grated cheddar or monterey jack cheese
1 crimini mushroom
1/4 ripe avocado
some leaves of cilantro, roughly chopped

*makes one substantial quesadilla

How it’s done: if the steak is not already cooked, heat about a teaspoon of vegetable oil in a skillet, then add steak and cook it over medium heat to desired doneness (If the steak is not cooked to 160 degrees F, it is not considered fully cooked and may still harbor bacteria) I recommend cooking the steak until it is no longer pink when you slice into it. This should not take long, since the steak is thinly sliced. Remove the steak from the skillet, and pour out any juices that have accumulated. If the steak is already cooked, i.e. left over from another meal, you can skip this step.
    Next, put another teaspoon of vegetable oil in the skillet and heat it so that it coats the bottom of the skillet. Put the tortilla into the skillet, spread the grated cheese on top, and arrange the pieces of steak on half of the tortilla. Chop the mushroom and place it on top of the steak. Sprinkle the cilantro over the cheese, then use a spatula to fold the tortilla in half to cover the pieces of steak. Cook until the tortilla is turning golden on the bottom, then flip it. Continue cooking until the cheese is melted and the tortilla is golden on both sides. Remove the quesadilla from the heat, and put it on a plate with fresh avocado sliced on top. Garnish with more cilantro, if desired, before digging ravenously into your quesadilla with the table manners of a caveman.