Vegetarian Mexican Layer Dip
Mocha Chip Ricotta Cookies
December 16, 2015
Persian Vegetable Soup
January 13, 2016
Dip into this Vegetarian Mexican Dip with layers of homemade refried beans, corn, guacamole and cheese. How can you say no!
This month Recipe Redux is celebrating its 54th month of recipes by challenging us to recreate a recipe on page 54 or 154 of our favorite cookbook. Going through my recipe books I always seem to find myself going back to Ellie Krieger’s Comfort Food Fix cookbook. Ellie Kreiger, a fellow dietitian and Food Network Celebrity (I want her job!), recreates classic comfort foods dishes in this cookbook with a healthy twist. So instead of making a healthy recipe healthier, I decided to make a few adjustments to a recipe using ingredients in my pantry. When I am too lazy to go to the grocery store or trying to clean out the pantry I’ll use my cookbooks as some inspiration and then use what I have. That is exactly what I did with this dish. 
Page 54 is Ellie’s 5 layer Mexican Dip. Her recipe calls for black beans, but unfortunately I was out! Instead I used a can of pinto beans to recreate one of my favorite Mexican side dishes, homemade refried beans. Next layer was cilantro corn which I did have ingredients for and for the final layer instead of having a layer of avocado and tomato I made a quick guacamole using avocado, tomato, jalapeno, cilantro, lime and spices. Of course to top it all off I had to use my favorite ingredient, cheese! I had some reduced fat cheddar cheese leftover so I used that instead of regular cheddar cheese.
Overall the recipe is just as healthy and delicious as Ellie’s but I was able to be a bit creative using ingredients I found in my pantry. 
- 1, 1 pound 13 ounce can of pinto beans, drained
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ⅓ vegetable broth
- 2 cups frozen corn
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons cilantro
- 2 avocados
- 1 tomato, diced
- juice of 1 lime (about 2 tablespoons)
- 1 jalapeno, seeds removed and diced finely
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- salt/pepper to taste
- ¾ cup reduced fat cheddar cheese
- In a medium saute pan on medium heat add olive oil, saute onions and cook until translucent.
- Remove half of the onions, add in garlic and cook for another minute.
- In a food processor add pinto beans, sauteed garlic and onion and vegetable broth. Process until smooth.
- Add frozen corn and remaining onion to saute pan and cook until heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Turn off heat and mix in ¼ cup cilantro.
- In a medium size bowl add avocado and mash. Add in tomato, lime juice, jalapeno, garlic powder, cumin and salt and pepper to taste. Mix to combine.
- In a 7x11 baking dish layer pinto bean mixture, corn mixture, avocado mixture and top with cheddar cheese. Serve or cover and place in refrigerator.
