Slightly Psychic Paper…

This is my first foray into the posting from the future options on WordPress. Scoob and I will be celebrating his Wiccaversary tonight (12/9/09), so I’m putting last night’s “dinner” up to keep the blog flowing. Soooo….

Being that last night was “Taco Tuesday” in my mind, I was in the mood for Mexican-esque food. So far on my “Taco…” nights I’ve used potatoes, mushrooms, rice, meat-subs and chili peppers. Most of these have been used as fillings for burritos/tacos, but my favorite, refried beans, seems to always get left out. Most of the time it’s because I already feel guilty enough for stuffing myself with taco fixin’s and sour cream, so I opt to leave out the massively calorie heavy beans. Last night though, I’d decided that my beans were coming off of the “fatty and delicious” list and making their way into “Taco…” nights.

Most refried beans recipes call for lard and bacon as cooking/flavoring agents. I must admit that any recipe that uses lard makes my stomach roll a little bit. In general refried beans aren’t super complicated, but can be time consuming. My recipe that I threw together last night is not only super simple but very low on the end of the time-consuming spectrum. Instead of using pinto beans, I chose black beans and used mine as a dip rather than a side (though they’re pretty much the same thing).

I ate all of my dip before I thought to take a picture, so here’s a hand-drawn rendition of it :3

What You’ll Need:

• 1 16oz can black beans, drained
• 2 cloves of chopped garlic (I minced mine in a blender/food processor to get it really tiny)
• 1/2 tbsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 2 tbsp Tofutti Better than Sour Cream
• 1/4 c Chipotle salsa
• salt to taste

1. Empty the beans into a microwave safe container/bowl and pop them into the microwave for about 2-3 minutes, just to get them softened up.
2. Once the beans are warm and soft (read super freaking hot!) take them out and either use a potato masher or a blender and mush the beans up into a rough paste. I excluded about 2-3 spoonfuls of the beans to add some texture and keep the dip chunky.
3. Add in spices and garlic and mix well. No need to blend it again, just mix enough to get the spices evenly distributed throughout the dip.
4. Mix in the sour cream and salsa and you’re done!

I figure this can be used as a side or a dip or a spread or whatever you’d like really. It’s super quick and simple to make and insanely delicious (in my opinion).