Due to how popular my first Depression and Cooking post has been, I decided that I would try and have a post about Depression and Cooking at least a couple of Fridays a month.

When my depression is active, I feel like being extremely inactive. That includes feeding my family. However, since I do not want my depression to control my life, any place I can claim victory over it is a good thing. Sometimes that victory takes the form of preparing my family a tasty and nutritious meal. The key is, the meal needs to be simple. Something I can accomplish with very little effort, or something I can help my family prepare.

When I was visiting my parents, my mother prepared several meals for us. One in particular I enjoyed. I enjoyed it so much because it was something that she had served for supper when I was a kid, and it was very simple. It was our version of a Mexican Salad and cheese quesadillas.

One of the reasons I like the Mexican Salad is that she and I fix it differently and both versions are good. The other reason I like the salad is that it is extremely simple and I usually have at least some of the ingredients around the house. The quesadilla is even more simple and involves two ingredients.

Here is a rough idea of what the recipe is for the Mexican Salad:

Lettuce (salad in a bag works good for this. No prep involved)
ground meat (beef, turkey, chicken, even tofu crumbles)
taco seasoning (I buy it in a pack. All that requires is me dumping it on the meat)
shredded cheese (You can buy cheese already shredded. I buy fairly large packs so I usually have some in the fridge)
canned Kideny beans, drained (I almost always have these in the cabinet. Store brands are cheap, so I buy more than one can at a time)
Russian Salad dressing (This can be a hard type of salad dressing to find, Catalina is a good substitute_
Frito corn chips (crushed) or tortilla chips (broken into bits)

Brown the ground meat, once browned stir in taco seasoning. Put in salad bowl with remaining ingredients. Toss with dressing.

I often serve this same salad with green onions and no ground meat. Instead I will bake a piece of salmon to have with it.

Cheese Quesadillas are great for many reasons.  I have a thing for grilled cheese sandwiches, unfortunately the carbs in the bread are not good for my diabetes.  Using tortillas instead of bread, especially the veggie tortillas reduces the amount of carbs I ingest. Little kids seem to enjoy these as well.

You will need shredded cheese (your choice of the type)

Tortillas (your choice of the type)

Heat olive oil in a pan large enough to hold tortilla. When heated place one tortilla in pan, cover in cheese (the amount of cheese is up to you).  Place second tortilla on top of cheese.  Cook until you think the first tortilla is browning, then flip.  You cheese should be melting.  Once you think the second side has cooked enough.  Remove from heat.  I like to slice the quesadilla up into triangles and then serve.

Let me know if you try these simple recipes out, and what you thought about them!