tabs

Monday, November 19, 2012

Cheezy Beany Bean Dip



We ate this last week and are still talking about it. Do you ever have meals like that? Where you just can’t stop talking about it? Simple ingredients with a little bump in flavor. A little extra love. A tiny teaspoon of extra flavor..... or a whole can. 

These quantities made a lot, which worked great for us, because we live on bean burritos for lunches throughout the week. In fact, Tim came home from work the following day and exclaimed, “I had the best lunch today!” Yes, he said that about a humble bean burrito. Little did he know that I actually had the best lunch. It’s because of the extra attention we gave the beans. Made all the difference.

Here’s what you need:
A large can of refried beans (30 oz, I think ) 
A can of chipotle salsa 
A few words about this little can of magic. It’s hot! This stuff packs a mighty punch, so start slowly. We can take an entire can, but you might like to start with half a can. (you can always freeze the leftovers in little ice cube trays and then pop the frozen salsa into chili or other tomato based sauces. )

Another word about chipotle: be sure to purchase the salsa for this recipe and not the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. See the difference in the photo? 

Leftover juice from roasting red peppers (super secret ingredient! Remember when I roasted all those red peppers?)


I used the other half in some bean soup last week. Such flavor!



For the Cheezy Sauce:
½ C raw cashews, soaked in hot water for at least 30 minutes, drained, rinsed
1 T tahini
1 red bell pepper, roasted, with the skin and seeds removed (mine came from my freezer. You can also buy them in big jars in the grocery.)
¼ C nutritional yeast
1 T soy sauce
2-3 T lemon juice
¼ t cayenne pepper



Here’s what you do:
Whirl the beans, chipotle salsa and pepper juice in a food processor until smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust seasonings.

To make the cheese: put all the ingredients in a high powered blender and see what happens! This stuff is awesome! (The cheeze recipe comes directly from "Forks Over Knives" by Del Sroufe.)



Put it all together in a pretty pattern with your favorite Mexican toppings: cilantro, tomato, avocado, lettuce, green pepper – whatever sounds good to you! Serve with tortillas and chips.

Sour cream anyone? 




5 comments:

  1. This looks delish, Tracy! So fun reading about your vegan adventures...and what an eye-opening experience it was for you. My sister-in-law tried to be vegan, but found it to hard to maintain all the time. She tries to eat vegan, but will eat cheese or eggs if she gets in the mood for them...and even has seafood once a month or so if we go out to dinner. It's about balance...

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are right about that Wendy - it is all about balance.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This sounds great! I planned on making bean tostadas for dinner tonight with brown spanish rice and guacamola. I'm going to make the beans with the chipotle salsa and I think I'll add some fresh roasted red pepper to the beans too! Thanks for the great idea. My boyfriend and I have been trying to eat some vegan meals and possibly ease into eating like that most of each week in the future. Who knows...maybe it will turn out to be a lifestyle change for us. Your blog helped to inspire this great change......Thank you Tracy! Have a great Thanksgiving.....we'll be eating turkey that day.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Terry Ann - I think that's great that you guys are trying to eat 'lighter' during the week. It was kinda hard at first for us, but now, it simple. Mostly it's using new types of ingredients. Last night I made the best pizza with a layer of garlicky mashed cannellini beans. It was excellent - and we didn't even miss the cheese!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh boy, does this look delicious. Not only that, but the colors are perfect for the season! ;-)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by my Living Cookbook! I appreciate each and every comment!