My husband makes "his" famous sweet potato quesadillas almost every time we have friends over. They are absolutely delicious! It wasn't until he'd made them about six or seven times that I caught him thumbing through the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum‘s Dining with the Desert Museum cookbook! Turns out, he'd gotten the recipe from the cookbook and was trying to pass them off as his genius idea! 

I asked him once for the recipe to give to a friend, and he was very hesitant to give away his secrets. But, because the recipe is in a cookbook, and I finally found this out, Ben gave me "permission" to print the recipe for all to see (even though he really didn't want to share it!).

Here it is:

1 medium red onion, diced
3 to 5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 to 3 jalapeno peppers, chopped (depending on how you want it)
2 to 3 medium sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
Olive oil
Large flour tortillas (best if you use the "real" flour tortillas you can buy in Tucson at any of our local Mexican restaurants. I vote for Tanya's, but everyone here has their favorites!)
1 ½ cups grated cheddar cheese

Sauté onion, garlic, and peppers until onions are translucent. While sautéing, peel and grate sweet potatoes. Add sweet potatoes to the sauté. Add spices and continue sautéing until the potatoes just begin to soften (they cook quickly). Remove from heat. Heat a frying pan and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Warm tortillas over a flame (gas burner) to make them soft and pliable. Put about ½ cup sweet potato mixture on one side of the tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese and fold tortilla over (in half). Fry in pan until brown and crisp on both sides.

Can be served with sour cream and guacamole, but we like it with home made salsa. Wait, we like it with Ben's home made salsa ... I better thumb through Dining with the Desert Museum to see if he stole his famous recipe from there too!