Fantastic Five Layer Dip

The season for Holiday gatherings is upon us. If you are like me, the majority of your friends, families, and acquaintances don't share the same zeal for healthful, nutrient dense, plant based foods. You may hear questions like "What? No Meat?" or "Where's the cheese?" Or you may hear declarations such as "I could never eat like that." or "I love my meat, there's no way I could ever give that up."

I always find that if I introduce a dish as vegan, plant based, vegetarian, most of the above mentioned folks automatically decide that they won't like it. I decided to try a different angle this weekend at a pot luck BBQ for my daughter's basketball team.

I thought about it and decided to bring a healthful version of an all time party food favorite. Normally it's a seven layer dip with a layer of cheese and sour cream, but I omitted those two and piled on extra fresh goodness. I placed the dish on the table and didn't excuse it or introduce it as healthy or vegetarian. I walked away and watched it disappear! Everyone raved over it, which made my heart happy! Luckily someone brought a couple fruit trays, so with a nice generous helping of the five layer dip and a mound of fruit, I had a fantastic BBQ lunch.

 

Fantastic Five Layer Dip

 

You will need:

 

2 large cans fat free refried black beans (I think they were 1.5 lbs each)

3 medium tomatoes, chopped

2 limes

4 avocados, chopped

4 green onions, sliced all the way - white and green part

1 jalapeno

1 t garlic powder

1/2 t cumin

 

In a large bowl, combine the beans, juice of 1 1/2 limes, garlic powder, and cumin. Spread this mixture in the bottom of a glass 9x13 dish.

 

Toss the chopped avocados with the juice of 1/2 lime.

 

In order, layer the following ingredients evenly over the beans: tomatoes, avocados, green onions, cilantro.

 

Seed and chop the jalapenos. I like to sprinkle these over half the dish so that the spicy food lovers and the mild food lovers can both enjoy the dip. I like to identify the spicy side with half a jalapeno or a few slices that are visible because the chopped ones are camouflaged in the cilantro.

 

Serve with your favorite tortilla chips. In the spirit of keeping this healthy, try some organic sweet potato tortilla chips or multi seeded tortilla chips.

 

Enjoy and Shhh! Don't tell them it's vegan!

 

Mmm