Beet & goat cheese quesadillas

Beets are a new-found love of mine; I didn't grow up seeing them except occasionally in salads. The great thing about beets is that you can eat the whole darn plant! Here's a recipe I concocted in order to use the whole veggie.

Getting as close to the root (what is generally referred to as the beet) as possible, cut off the greens. Toss the beets into a pot of boiling water. Trim the stems of the greens up to where the leaf begins, and discard the stems. Since beet greens grow close to the ground, rinse the leaves very well in colander under cold water.

Finely dice some garlic (and onion, if you'd like) and place in a pan with olive oil that's been heated over a medium-low flame. When the garlic starts to sizzle, toss in the beet greens, put a lid on the pan, and turn the heat down to low.

While the greens are cooking down, check on the boiling beets. If a fork can easily pierce the skin, they're ready! Dump the beets into a colander, and start rinsing and peeling them under cold water. Just start rubbing the skin with your fingers, and it will start to peel off. Once all the beets are peeled, cut them into thin slices.

By now, the greens should be done cooking and look wilted. Crumble some goat cheese onto a tortilla. Scoop the warm greens mixture on top, and put the tortilla back into the pan - still on low heat.

When the goat cheese starts to melt, place the sliced beets on the top, and crumble some more goat cheese on top. Salt and pepper as you'd like, and put another tortilla on top. Carefully flip the quesadilla over in order to brown the second tortilla and get the new cheese all melty.

Once the other side is browned, and the ingredients are warmed all the way through, slide the quesadilla onto a plate, cut into quarters, and garnish with any leftover sliced beets.