Bean Dip for a Crowd

Bean dip is a fun thing to eat as a healthy snack or great to serve for a crowd. This would make a great after school snack. You can serve it with chips and vegetables. You could also use this recipe as a filling for burritos. Beans are a great source of fiber and protein and I love eating them.

Ingredients

1 16 Oz can refried beans
1 4 oz can of green chilies
1/3 C chia (great way to boost up the nutrition )
1/2 C shredded cheese (for non vegan version)
1/2 C salsa *optional


Directions

1. Stir all the ingredients in a bowl. Then heat covered in the microwave it will splatter.
2. Serve warm. Yum!

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Recipe Redux has been around for 42 months! We've been grateful to be a part of it, even if we haven't been with them 42 months. This group is a great collection of bloggers that all are trying to make healthy eating a consistent part of their diets. In honor of 42 months, we were challenged to look in our cook books and find a recipe on page 42 or 142 and adapt it to be healthier. 

I ended up with a cookbook that I haven't used for a long time. I really like the recipes and pictures in it. So I was glad I had this challenge. It made me realize I needed to use it more. It is called the Ultimate Low Fat. I changed the "Red Bell Pepper Soup" recipe around a little bit. One of the things I did was roast the red peppers to add more flavor and browned the vegetables. I also made some other changes, such as loading it with vegetables. The end result was a satisfying, healthy bowl of soup. I liked the different dimensions of flavor.  My family enjoyed it too. Great for this time of year. Happy holidays!

Ingredients

12 oz of fresh red pepper, seeds removed

3 T olive oil

1 1/2  whole onions, sliced

5 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 can (4 oz) diced green chilies

2 1/4 C tomatoes, pureed

3 3/4 water

2 tsp salt * (more if desired)

2 tsp thyme

1 tsp basil

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

basil leaves for garnish

Directions

1. Place red pepper on a cookie sheet face down. Put in oven heated to broil. Let broil until the outside gets charred. Watch closely so it doesn't cook too long. Take out of the oven, place it in a bowl, and cover with plastic wrap for about 5 to 10 minutes. Then peel off charred skin and chop up. 

2. Heat up oil in large pot. Place onions and garlic in pan and stir around and let cook for a few minutes. 

3. Stir in the red pepper and green chilies and continue to cook and let  the vegetables start to turn a light golden color. 

4. Stir in the tomatoes (I did whole tomatoes and blended in the blender a couple times until smooth) and water. Then add, salt, thyme, basil and crushed pepper. Let the mixture come to a low boil. 

5. Turn down the heat and let simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.

6. Pour into blender and pulse a couple times. Serve warm. Garnish with basil leaves

An InLinkz Link-up

Tasty Refried Black Beans and Happy Healthy 2014

Love is having our children come for the holidays!

Love being grandparents!

We have enjoyed a nice holiday break. I hope you have enjoyed being around family and friends too. We rejoice in celebrating Jesus Christ's birth. However your family celebrates the season I hope it was a happy one. Grandchildren help the season come alive for all of us. We loved having our children come home for the holidays too. We missed having Bryce and Katie here this year.

Yesterday, we enjoyed thinking about what might happen in the year ahead. We made some fun predictions.  It is fun to have new energy and excitement for a new year. We had a fun family gathering yesterday and enjoyed one of our favorite kinds of food. Mexican! It was a great way to start out the new year. Yum! I will give you the Mexican Rice recipe tomorrow. :) I also made this Oatmeal Cake recipe for an evening snack and it was gobbled up. I fell in love with it all over again.

I made these re fried black beans and they were a big hit. I had never made them like this before. I will be making them like this again. This is also a yummy way to make black beans that I did last year. One of my goals this year is continue to make recipes that are healthy and delicious.

Happy Healthy 2014!

Re fried Black Beans

Ingredients
2 T olive oil
1 chopped onion
4-5 cloves minced garlic
5 C cooked black beans, drained * Great way to make black beans.
1 1/2 C water
1 can diced green chilies
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp chili powder


Directions
1. In a skillet or big pot heat up the oil on med heat. Stir in the onion and garlic and let it cook for 3-5 minutes until it is lightly browned.
2. Pour in the drained black beans and stir around and let them all cook together 2-3 minutes. Stir in the water. Mash the beans. Don't mash them all so there is some texture to them.
3. Pour in the green chilies, salt, cumin and chili powder. Stir them all together. Let them heat up together and let the flavors meld together on low heat for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve warm.    

Homemade Salsa

Yum! Homemade Salsa is always a hit at our house. Once you eat homemade it is hard to go back to the store bought. We have gotten spoiled.

Ingredients:
4 Roma Tomatoes* optional (You don't have to  use these)
1 16oz can of diced tomatoes
 1/4 white onion
1 small can of green chilies
1 clove of garlic
1 handful of washed cilantro
1/2 fresh jalapeno seeded
2 T fresh lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Pour all the ingredients into the blender and pulse a couple times. Don"t blend to much if you want it chunky. Serve fresh is best.  Enjoy