Warm Bean Dip

Next Saturday or Sunday when you're watching football... make this dip!

I found it on pinterest and we've since had it twice.  I changed a few things from the original recipe (low fat refried black beans, added green chiles, halved the cheese and used a reduced fat cheese) to make it slightly lower in calories and it turned out great.

This recipe makes a pretty large batch, so I froze half prior to putting it in the oven.  If you're taking it to a party, use the whole recipe - but if it's just for one family, half is plenty.  You could easily use a can of Rotel instead of the separate tomatoes and green chiles, but I liked having more of both.

Next time I post a recipe, I promise I'll post a picture.  I hate recipe blog posts without pics.  The Country Cook (the original source) has one though.  (Funny story - when I pulled up the original recipe to verify the oven time and temp, Chris saw the picture and said "Hey, that has more cheese on it!"  Busted!)


Warm Bean Dip
adapted from The Country Cook

Ingredients:
2 cans (16 oz.) low fat refried black beans (Rosarita is the brand I used)
1 can (14.5 oz) petite diced tomatoes, drained
1 can (4 oz.) diced green chiles
1 Tablespoon taco seasoning
2 cups 2% milk Mexican cheese blend 

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325* F.
In a medium bowl combine beans, tomatoes, green chiles, taco seasoning and 1 cup cheese.  Coat an 8" x 8" casserole dish with non-stick spray.  (see note about freezing half!)  Add bean mixture and spread evenly.  Warm in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes.  Add remaining 1 cup of cheese and warm an additional 5 minutes to melt the cheese.  Serve with tortilla chips.