Black Bean Dip

IT'S GAME DAY! Gooooo GATORS and War Eagle! I am being such a good wife saying War Eagle on the blog... wow, my bday must be coming up soon so I have to be nice!!!

Here is a great and delicious game day dip. This recipe was to be featured in my "Healthy Tailgating" workshop at the Pilates Studio. So, with that being said, it is relatively healthy as long as you don't dip too many chips. It is easy to make your own baked tortilla chips instead of the processed fried ones, or look into buying baked tortilla chips instead. Also, I only used about 1/2 to 3/4 of the cheese so don't feel like you have to use all of it if you are trying to cut calories!

Black Bean Dip

Recipe from Aggie's Kitchen, originally from She Wears Many Hats

Ingredients:

2 15 oz cans organic black beans, drained

1/4 tsp ancho chile powder

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp salt (or to taste)

3 Poblano peppers, roasted

1/3 cup cilantro leaves, packed

1 Tbs olive oil

1/3 cup corn, drained if from a can

1/3 cup diced tomato (I didn't have a fresh tomato... so used Rotelle Tomatoes = yummy)

1/2 cup of salsa - medium if like it spicy!

4 oz divided queso or Monterey Jack cheese - shredded

Directions:

To roast the peppers: click on this link . Please be careful when handling peppers... I accidentally touched my eyes after handling this hot babies and I wasn't happy!

Heat the beans in a saucepan over medium heat, add the chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, combine well. When warm, mash the bean mixture (I used a potato masher). Add 1/4 cup of the shredded cheese and mix well. If the mixture gets gummy then add some of the juice that you strained earlier from the beans. Get your food processor, place the cilantro (FRESH), peppers, and 1 tbs of olive oil and process until you reach a smooth consistency. Get an oven safe dish, spread the bean mixture on the bottom then spread a layer of the salsa, then add the pepper mixture on top, then the tomato and corn, and sprinkle the top with cheese. Place into a heated 400 degree oven, and cook until the cheese melts. The original recipe called for 10-15 minutes but it took me almost 25 minutes (I had prepped the whole dish the night before so it was cold from being in the fridge overnight so I think that is what caused the increase in cooking time).

We also have to serve anything mexican related with sour cream... my husband loves sour cream so if you love it as much as he does, it of course goes well with this dip!

I had some leftovers of this dip after the football party so I put this mixture in a quesadilla and it was delicious... can be added to tacos, burritos, salads.... get crazy!

Enjoy and of course enjoy your game day... whichever team you cheer for! Please pass along any yummy dips that you like to make for tailgating! My absolute favorite one is Lauren's Taco Dip!!! Lauren- want to be a guest blogger for your dip????