Sweet Potato Quesadillas

We love to eat dairy-free a few times a week, and this is one of the most delicious ways we have found to do that. The baked sweet potato takes the place of the cheese, and really, it's shocking how creamy and rich it becomes when served this way.

(This, like many of our recipes in the past few days, is an older idea revisited with a renewed palate and way more hours in the kitchen. We strive to not only come up with new ideas, but to give you the best versions of all of our ideas -- the stuff you want to make all the time and recipes that work out just right every time you use them. The dishes we've been highlighting are our go-to's, and we're oven the moon that we think we might've figured out how to make them even better!)

Sweet Potato Quesadillas

1 large sweet potato (baked in a 350-degree oven for 1 hour)
Kosher salt and cracked black pepper (to taste)
1 medium portobello (1 1/2 cups sliced)
1 medium red pepper (1 cup sliced)
1/2 white onion (1 1/4 sliced)
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablespoons canola oil (more for grilling quesadillas)
4 10-inch, whole-wheat tortillas (like Whole Foods 365 brand)
Guacamole and Mexican hot sauce (to serve)

Peel the baked sweet potato, place it into a medium bowl, mash it with a fork, season with salt and pepper, and set aside. In a large bowl toss together the portobello, pepper, onion, lime juice, chili powder, and salt and pepper to taste. Get a large frying pan screaming hot over high heat. Add the 2 tablespoons of canola, wait for it to shimmer, and then add the vegetable mixture. Cook 5 to 6 minutes while stirring often until onions begin to brown and most of the liquid the vegetables released during cooking has evaporated. Place vegetables back into the bowl and set aside.

Rinse out the large frying pan and place it over medium heat. Assemble the quesadillas by first dividing the sweet potato mixture between the 4 tortillas, then dividing the vegetable mixture. Add enough oil to the pan to lightly coat the bottom. Fold quesadillas in half and cook both sides until the outside is nice and crisp. You will need to do this in two batches. Serve with guacamole and your favorite Mexican hot sauce. (Serves 4 as an appetizer and 2 as a main course.)