Black Bean Pico de Gallo

So it's been a little while. I wish I could say I've been off doing something incredibly fabulous, but that would be untrue. I've just been busy with work and school, like always. There's been some exciting cooking in the last month or so, and some not very inspired cooking. Sometimes I photographed the more exciting foods, sometimes I didn't.

But here we are. I had a girls' sleepover with some cousins a few weeks ago. This black bean pico de gallo was one of the finger foods I made. It's so easy and so yummy. And the proportions of ingredients really just depends on how much you want to make, and your tastes. I normally use two cans of beans, so we'll go with that.

You'll need:
- 2 cans 15 oz black beans (or about 6 C dried black beans, soaked and cooked)
- 1/2 red onion, chopped
- 1/2 to 3/4 C corn
- lime juice, to taste
- cilantro, to taste
- sea salt, to taste

Just mix everything together in a bowl.

Your mind is blown, right? So simple. Sometimes if I have leftovers, I eat these in tortilla shells. Equally yummy lunch.

Black Bean Hummus

Forgive this picture; I forgot to snap one pre-party, so here's one post-party.

Over the weekend, one of my favorite friends had a game night at a house she's house-sitting for the next year. I was excited by the prospect of making a finger food/appetizer because that's probably the least frequently made food in my kitchen. I was also kind of anxious, because there were going to be new and non-vegan people there, so I didn't want to make anything too scary for non-vegans.

After browsing all of my cookbooks and coming up empty-handed, I started looking at Whole Foods' website. I came across this black bean hummus, and given my love of hummus and beans, decided on this, praying it was a happy medium between vegan and non-vegan.

It was super easy to make, and really tasty. I served it with sliced baby carrots, celery, and tortilla chips. You could easily substitute any sort of raw veggies for the carrots and celery, and pita is an obvious pairing. I actually meant to get some at the store, but forgot, thus the chips.

Black Bean Hummus

Ingredients

2 cups no-salt-added cooked black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/4 cup tahini
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons reduced-sodium tamari
1 teaspoon ume vinegar or 2 teaspoons lemon juice (or to taste)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Method

Combine black beans, garlic, tahini, cumin, water, tamari and vinegar in a food processor. Pulse until smooth and all ingredients are combined. Transfer to a serving bowl, fold in cilantro and serve.

Taco Dip

Source: My Genius Brain

Happy 2011! Life is pretty good in Baltimore - I had two fantastic weeks off from work, the Ravens are in the playoffs, and I've got high hopes for 2011. I don't make resolutions per se, but my two most immediate goals for this year are to get into grad school and get a bike.

I spent my New Year's Eve with some of my favorite people: my brother, my best friend/cousin, and her brother. It was super chill and low-key, and I had a fantastic time. I made taco dip for the occasion, as it's one of my favorite party foods. It's really easy to make, you can make it to your liking, and thanks to Daiya, it tastes delicious. I have multiple omnis who can attest to this.

I layered: vegetarian refried beans (Amy's Kitchen), dairy-free sour cream (Tofutti) seasoned to taste with taco seasoning (read: LOTS), dairy-free cheddar cheese (Daiya), lettuce, and tomato. Presto! I told you guys I had a genius brain.