Bean Dip
1 can pinto beans 15 or 16 oz (drained and rinsed)
1/2 cup salsa (whatever you like)
1 TBLS lime juice
1 teas ground cumin
pepper to taste
In a food processor blend the beans until smooth. Add everything else and blend. That's it. You're done!
Notes: This is pretty thick, but not as thick as what you buy in a can. If you want it thicker, you can lessen the salsa. It may be harder to mix in the food processor though. Heating it on the stove will remove some moisture too.
Other possible ingredients: Cilantro may be added as a garnish or in the dip. How about some sautéed garlic. Ground coriander (that is the seed of the cilantro plant) may be added. If you want to give it some heat, add a pinch of cayenne.
Chips: When buying chips, look for those that have only 3 ingredients: corn, oil and salt. Stay away from those that have a paragraph of ingredients. So many chips have hydrogenated oils. Fritos, Santitas, and some Tostitos don't have hydrogenated oils.
My cholesterol: When I first began to watch my eating habits, the first thing I did was to take hydrogenated oils out of my diet. That meant no more margarine so I started eating real butter. I grew up in a time where it was considered "healthier" to eat margarine. Hard to believe now. Although butter isn't great for you, it's a better alternative than hydrogenated oils. I eventually went to using mostly olive oil when it was needed. I started reading packaged foods and looked for that one thing: partially hydrogenated oils. I was surprised to find that it was in almost EVERYTHING that came in a package. Simply changing from margarine to butter caused my cholesterol to go down 10 points. When my children were younger and they asked me for some packaged food, I would have them read the ingredients. I told them if they could pronounce all the ingredients we could get it :). Now they know to look for hydrogenation.
Enjoy the playoffs and Happy Eating!
