dip

Muhammara Roasted Veggie Bowl

March 5, 2014 by Erica

Muhammara Roasted Veggie Bowl

Thank you for all your sweet comments on Monday’s post. You all sure know how to comfort a girl! Even when that girl is being a self-indulgent whiner. Oops!

I’m going to take my complaining down a notch. As I think we all know, Sunday anxiety is way worse than the actual work week. So next week, feel free to give me a virtual slap if I let out a peep about my busy schedule!

Still, I appreciate Monday’s virtual hugs. You are all way too sweet, and I can’t believe my luck that we get to hang out and talk about food together all the time. Seriously!

Muhammara Roasted Veggie Bowl

We are still enjoying the double batch of muhammara I made last weekend, and this has been one of my favorite combinations: a bowl of wheat berries and roasted veggies topped with a big dollop of that rich spread. It’s not exactly earth-shattering (more like fridge-emptying!), but it’s still high on the deliciousness scale.

…

Muhammara (Syrian Red Pepper and Walnut Dip)

March 3, 2014 by Erica

Muhammara (Syrian Red Pepper and Walnut Dip)

As I type this, I’m in the midst of the Sunday blahs.

I’ve eaten too much, our apartment is a mess, I haven’t done any of the work I have to do before tomorrow (despite the fact that I dreamed about it both Friday and Saturday night), and I’m trying to get up the motivation to go to the gym before it closes at 7:00.

Why does the gym close at 7 pm on Sundays?!

Muhammara (Syrian Red Pepper and Walnut Dip)

The more I think about it, the more I conclude I need a clone to stay at home and take care of all the things I want to avoid, like cleaning the sink and revising PowerPoint presentations. That way I can go about doing the important things, like baking cupcakes and getting to the gym on time, without that other stuff hanging over my head and causing unsettling dreams.

Any volunteers?

I guess if the worst things in my life are ~~dirty sinks~~ cleaning and PowerPoint, that’s not so bad, after all.

Forgive my complaining. I’ve been too busy lately, and I can just tell it’s going to be another crazy week. But isn’t that always the case? Luckily, this weekend I made it a priority to cook some delicious food to share with you. So let’s just hop to it, shall we?

Muhammara (Syrian Red Pepper and Walnut Dip)

Today I want to introduce you to something called muhammara. Because you need to get to know this deliciousness.

…

Roasted Garlic and Truffle White Bean Spread

December 6, 2013 by Erica

Roasted Garlic and Truffle White Bean Spread

Can you handle some mushy talk today before we get to the food? I hope so… and if not, just skip down to the recipe!

Today I am feeling unbelievably lucky. Lucky to somehow have such an amazing man in my life, to have such wonderful, caring and generous parents, and just generally to have the deck stacked in my favor. I’m not sure how I ended up with so much, but I am so very thankful. It’s easy to take all the wonderful people and things in my life for granted, and I do that too often, but today I am just feeling an overwhelming sense of gratitude. I am not sure how I’ll ever live up to it all!

I guess in the meantime I will just make everyone lots of food. Sometimes even reeeally good food.

…

Chipotle Butternut Squash and White Bean Dip

November 6, 2013 by Erica

Chipotle Butternut Squash and White Bean Dip

We got our first snow of the season yesterday. I woke up in the morning, changed into my running clothes, and looked out the window… uh ohhh. WHY is the ground covered in 4 inches of snow?! I am not much of an outdoor runner when it’s slippery outside. I took about 10 steps before I went back in, changed into shorts, and went to the gym to run on the treadmill.

First treadmill run of the season in the books! It’s gonna be a loooong winter.

As a side note, our neighbors still had their sprinklers on. What?!

Chipotle Butternut Squash and White Bean Dip

I’m clearly not thrilled about the quick transition to winter that we’re having around here, but it does mean I get to roast butternut squash to my little heart’s content. Our apartment is already freezing, so I’m a happy girl when the oven is on. I’ve already posted a few butternut recipes so far this fall, and I’m showing no signs of slowing down. This is just the most recent way I’ve been getting my fix.

…

Chipotle Black Bean Dip

January 7, 2013 by Erica

Last week, as I was writing Friday’s Bachelor cupcake post, I realized something terrible.

Tonight = Bachelor season premier.

Tonight also = National championship bowl game.

Uhhhhh ohhhhh.

Let’s just say that this is Nate’s and my first “bowl season” living together. (Did not know that was a phrase until last week.) Sure, we’ve been together for many football seasons, but shit got real once my TV was also his TV.

There is football on ALL THE TIME.

I actually forced him to watch multiple episodes of Honey Boo Boo on New Year’s Day, just so we could take a break from football. Believe it or not, Honey Boo Boo was a compromise. What we were not doing was watching The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which sat on our coffee table for 5 whole nights before I gave up and returned it to Redbox, unwatched.

The Bachelor doesn’t even stand a chance.

Yay football.

OK, I don’t really hate football; it’s just the crazy frequency of games recently. (And don’t even remind me about that March Madness thing coming up…)

One thing that all these bowl games are good for, though, is experimenting with new recipes on unsuspecting taste testers. Enter: a new bean dip!

There have been many bean dips on here lately, and I’m basically just hoping that you love bean dip and all his hummus cousins as much as I do. This one, made with black beans, is much different than my hummus recipes, and much more appropriate to serve to a living room full of hungry football fans. It tastes like classic football food without having any cheese, has a little kick to it, and is unbelievably quick and easy to make.

Making this bean dip tonight: Mandatory. Making your boyfriend watch The Bachelor instead of the bowl game: Optional.

Chipotle Black Bean Dip

Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 cans low-sodium black beans, rinsed and drained (or 3 cups cooked black beans)

2 Tbsp olive oil

juice of 1 lime

1 vine-ripened tomato, roughly chopped

1 large clove garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

1/4 onion, roughly chopped (I used white, but yellow or red onion would also be good)

2 chipotle chilies from a can of chilies in adobo

1 tsp adobo sauce

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp kosher salt

chopped cilantro for sprinkling

tortilla chips or veggies for serving

Instructions:

Add all ingredients to a food processor and process until smooth. Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Easy peasy!

This dip keeps in the refrigerator for several days, and will become firmer when cooled.

Enjoy!

Connect