Household / Small Appliances / Quesadilla Machine

The Santa Fe Quesadilla Maker comes out this time of year to most stores as gift ideas, and I want to be one of the people who sing its praises!!  I really love this machine!  All you do is get your tortillas, one on the bottom, fillings of your choice, then one on the top.  You pretty much squish the quesadilla in the machine and a couple minutes later you have a GREAT appetizer or meal!  My family LOVES this thing-it's a fun way to have people make their own appetizers, too.  One year my Mom put her machine out, left a variety of toppings out in bowls and put a stack of tortillas next to it all-we took turns making different types of fillings and shared them all.  It was a lot of fun and a great conversation piece.  The machine has a sectioned inside, so when your quesadilla is done it's easier to cut into pieces to share or just make easier to eat.

Easy enough so kids can use it, too!  It does get pretty hot on the surfaces, so parental supervision would be required, but very simple.  I live alone, so if I want a fast meal, all I have to do is take this thing out, heat it up and make a nice quick veggie or chicken quesadilla with low fat cheese and fat free sour cream on the side-voila-there's a nice healthy dinner!  One little point to make-you have to watch how much you add to the inside.  If you add too much, the outside of your quesadilla cooks too quick and the inside too slow, crisping the outside a bit too much and overflowing the sides of the quesadilla (makes a pretty good mess if you add WAY too much). 

The machine cost about $20, so it makes a great gift idea.  Clean up is super easy-you just wipe the machine down with a damp cloth.  Cook time is fast at only about 2 minutes (depends on what you put in your quesadilla-it has an internal thermometer so it measures as you go-I like mine a little crisper so I go a little longer).  A green light comes on when your machine is warmed up, it turns red when you add ingredients, then when it's done cooking it turns green again. 

I definitely recommend this product for the Mexican Food lover in your home!!!!