Tostada Dip

Here's another post I'm transferring from Facebook, just in time for Super Bowl parties!

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This dip is always a hit whenever I take it to parties. Someone always asks for the recipe, it never fails. Try it, you'll see!

Ingredients:

One Can Refried Beans

One Small Can Herdez Salsa Casera

One Can Olives

Sour Cream

Tomato

Cilantro

Green Onions

Avocado

Finely Grated cheese

Jalapeno

 One Lime

Mix half the can of Salsa Casera with the refried beans. It adds spice and thins out the beans. You don't want your chip to break when you dig into the dip!

Choose a good bowl for the dip. You want a flat one, with shallow sides.  A pyrex casserole dish would work fine too.

Spread the bean & salsa mixture out over the bottom.

Finely grate the cheese. Any kind of cheese will do, I usually like to use pepper jack or mild cheddar. Use whatever you like, or whatever you have on hand. I only had some slices of muenster, so I finely grated it and added it as the next layer.

The green layer is next. 

Finely slice some green onions. Three or four will do.

Next, coarsely chop some cilantro.

I used about a third of a bunch, cutting off the stem part.

Add a little jalapeno. I grill a couple dozen jalapenos at a time and put them in the freezer to have them on hand whenever I need them. You can also freeze them raw and whole. 

I sliced some off the block of roasted jalapenos I have in the freezer to use today for the dip. If you like mild heat, slice off a thin slice and remove the seeds and membrane. If you like heat, use a whole one.

I  dice them really fine. If you like more heat, use raw jalapenos, leave the seeds in, and make them a little more chunky.

Layer all the greens together.

Avocados are next. I used a little more than one, but one is probably enough.

Dice them and squeeze a little lime juice on them so they'll stay nice and green. Mix them a little right there on the cutting board and add them to your dip.

If you don't live in a former avocado orchard like I do, and have avocados galore, you can also use the already mashed up ones you buy at the store in a package, but fresh ones are BEST!

Tomatoes are next. I'm using one of the heirloom tomatoes I grew in my front yard.

They're juicy, so you need to squeeze them gently to takeout the seeds, otherwise your dip will become watery.

Ready for dicing.

My knife needed sharpening to cut through those tomato skins! For Mac knives, the Fiscars sharpener is at exactly the correct angle for the Mac knives. It's the roller type, and about 10 passes is enough to make the knife really sharp. But be careful! It's easy to cut yourself!

Add the diced tomatoes to our dip. It makes the dip really pretty if you leave a little reveal around each layer, so you can see them all.

Next, mix about half the container of sour cream with a little bit of garlic powder, a generous pinch will be enough.

Add to the top of the dip.

Lastly, the olives. Quarter them. 

My sister-in-law that LOVES olives says they're the best left in big pieces.

I like to use the medium sized olives, but these extra large ones came from Costco. Can't beat the price!

Add the olives to the top.

Add a little cilantro sprig for garnish and you're done!

Serve with chips and fresh veggies.

(Those Kettle baked salt & pepper potato chips they have at Costco are healthy, right?)

Let me know if you make the dip and how it turned out, okay?

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Leftover Dip!

IF you happen to have some leftover dip the next day, for lunch, you can make some quick soft tacos!

Here's what we did...

This is a multigrain tortilla.

Don't be afraid of them, they're really good!

Toast them really well on the comal.

Put a scoop of dip on the tortilla and add some sliced avocado and shredded red cabbage with a drizzle of salsa casera.

Yummmm!