Posts Tagged ‘dip’

Dieting stinks. That’s why I don’t do it. However, I do need to lose weight that would amount to a small child.

Little changes over time are what I can stick to. The weight may come off slower, but slow is better than not at all. And healthy recipes, that are easy and quick to prepare without compromising taste are what will make the changes become life long habits. For me it’s gotta be simple, combined with fantastic flavor, or it’s highly unlikely that I’ll prepare it again.

So in the hunt for healthy snacks that are satisfying, I’ve once again returned to the handy dandy bean with a White Bean Spread with roasted garlic. Beans are a favorite around our home. Black Bean Dip, Black Bean Hummus and White Bean Chili frequent our table often. I’m sure this white bean spread will now be added to the repertoire.

As I said it’s easy. Super easy. Super duper easy. For real.

And it’s not only easy but flavorful. Plus it’s packed with fiber and protein. Roasted garlic and fresh cilantro really pair well with the nuttiness of the beans. And you could always spice it up with some cayenne pepper and/or add more cilantro if you’d like.

The ingredient list is small. All you’ll need is northern beans (or cannellini), a head of garlic, olive oil, cilantro, salt and pepper. So simple.

Start by preparing the garlic to roast. Remove a good amount of the papery skin on the garlic head. The individual cloves should still be wrapped, like this…

Next cut off the top of the head of garlic. Just a little – enough to reveal the individual cloves.

After that drizzle the head of garlic with a little olive oil and wrap in aluminum foil to roast.

I was out of foil. So I improvised by making a mini roaster by using 2 oven proof ramekins. It worked just fine. Basically the garlic needs to be covered so it doesn’t dry out.

Bake the garlic in a 400° F oven for about 45 minutes.

While the garlic is roasting warm the beans over low heat.

See the garlic – my little roaster worked!

Roasted garlic smells wonderful. The garlic needs to cool to the touch.

When garlic is good to go, pour the warmed beans in a food processor.

Add the cilantro.

Then Salt. (Check out my salt box thingy. I found it at Sur La Table. It’s so handy.)

The pepper goes in next.

And here comes the fun part…squeeze the garlic out. (please ignore the ugly man hand)

Works like a charm.

Pulse a few times and run processor until smooth. You may need to add a little olive oil to loosen it up a bit. I added another 1/4 teaspoon (hardly any at all) but it could’ve taken more.

Now you’re ready to serve it along side crackers or my favorite, celery. It’s best served warm. If you want to make ahead and refrigerate it can easily be reheated. You may need to drizzle a little more olive oil while reheating to bring it back to life.

So good. And so good for you too. Hope you enjoy!

White Bean Spread
(makes about 1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients:

• 1 head of garlic
• 1 1/4 teaspoon olive oil; divided
• 1  15.8 oz. can of northern beans (or cannellini)
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves; packed loosely
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 400°F.

- Peel most of the papery skin off of the head of garlic. Cut top off of garlic head to reveal individual cloves.

- Drizzle about 1 teaspoon of olive oil over garlic, lightly coating garlic all over.

- Wrap garlic in aluminum foil, or use a garlic roaster (or make your own), and bake in oven for 45 minutes.

- While garlic is roasting, warm beans in small pan on low.

- When garlic is finished roasting let cool to the touch.

- In a food processor combine the warm beans, cilantro, salt, pepper and roasted garlic cloves until smooth.

- If needed add a little olive oil at a time until you reach preferred consistency.

Enjoy!

It’s fall and that means it’s pumpkin time. Recipes featuring pumpkin are around every corner. I’ve even tried a few tasty ones myself. Here’s just another to add to the mix, a popular pumpkin dip that beckons for gingersnaps, apples or pears. This recipe has been around the block a few times and since I flock to simple, but tasty recipes, this pumpkin dip has remained a keeper in my go to list.

I don’t recall who first told me about it but it was a friend at a party. Most of my favorite appetizer recipes are discovered like that. You’re standing around at a party, dipping away (no double dipping), as the recipe is shared, scratched down on a napkin or stored away in the recesses of your mind. Thank goodness it didn’t get lost in my mind somewhere in and amongst all of the clutter.

All you need is cream cheese, pumpkin, brown sugar, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg and ground ginger. I’ve made it with both brown sugar and confectioners/powdered sugar before but I prefer the brown sugar. Also I’ve found using a food processor (my small Cuisinart one is perfect for this and other dips – I use it all the time) to soften the cream cheese improves the texture instead of doing it by hand.

So I start with the cream cheese in the food processor, pulse a few times until the cream cheese is smooth, then add in all other ingredients, except the pumpkin, and blend well. You could stop right now and it would be mighty good but we need to add something healthy. So, in a separate bowl empty the blended cream cheese mixture to the pumpkin puree and mix well. That’s all. You’re done. Just make sure to refrigerate until served. As I said before, it’s scrumptious with gingersnaps, apples or pears.

(A little secret…I use fat free cream cheese. I don’t think anyone can tell the difference, and that helps make this dip pretty low cal and packed with fiber and beta-carotene.)

Pumpkin Dip Recipe
(makes about 3 cups)

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. cream cheese (again, I used fat free or reduced fat – who knew?)
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree

Directions:

- In a food processor (or in a bowl by hand) pulse the cream cheese until smooth.

- Add next 4 ingredients (lt. brown sugar, ground ginger, ground nutmeg, ground cinnamon) to food processor and blend well.

- Empty cream cheese mixture into a bowl, add the pumpkin puree and mix well.

- Refrigerate until served.

Enjoy!

Welcome back for another installation of The Bodacious Bean. This week’s recipe is a flavorful Black Bean Hummus.

Yeah, we eat hummus here in the south. It’s even one of my daughter’s favorite foods. She’s a rare and complicated child though.

Making  hummus is easy as, well… hummus. This recipe replaces the usual chickpea (or garbanzo bean) with yummy black beans. It’s tasty and spicy and garlicky and… you fill in the blank after you try it.

Basically, you mix all the ingredients below in a food processor. That’s it. Serve it with pita chips, pita bread, or your favorite chip or cracker. I like it on celery as well.

One note, this recipe makes about 4 cups. That’s a lot of hummus, so you can easily half the recipe, or third it, or fourth it. (Okay, I haven’t had my coffee yet today – just bear with my goofiness.)

Black Bean Hummus Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 – 15 oz. cans black bean, drained
• 3/4 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, packed
• 1 cup onion (yellow)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Salt & Pepper to taste (I used 1/4 teaspoon of each.)

In a food processor combine all ingredients until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

Enjoy! And check back next week for another Bodacious Bean Recipe.