With Super Bowl fast approaching, I decided to re-think a dish that is a fixture at most Super Bowl parties. Although Seven Layer Dip is often a vegetarian dish (one of the few I can eat at parties!), I’ve seen some folks make it with a ground meat layer over the refried beans. That’s why I decided to use Beyond Meat Beef-Free Crumbles – one of my favorite new products – to add some more oomph to this football favorite.
I have given you alternatives so that the dish can be either vegetarian or vegan – either way, it is super tasty. I was on a radio show recently and made versions for the host . . . and he couldn’t tell which dish had dairy products. I think that is a good reason to try to eliminate the dairy in this recipe!
You can certainly make your own Guacamole using fresh avocados, lime juice, garlic, minced scallions, sea salt, and a little salsa or tomatoes. But for convenience in this dish, I use Wholly Guacamole. I think that they make a consistently tasty guacamole and use only Hass Avocado, vinegar, jalapeno pepper, dehydrated onion, salt, and granulated garlic. Although I would love it if they would make an organic version (hint, hint!), I like that they don’t use preservatives, and instead use a high pressure processing that uses a high pressure cold water system instead of heat to preserve their product and kill bacteria. I like that their processing method eliminates preservatives, is energy efficient, and recycles the water. Frankly, I’ve thrown away so many avocados that are bruised or bad inside, that when I want to make something quickly that needs guacamole, I rely on Wholly Guacamole.
Instead of using a jarred salsa, I’d rather invest my time in making my delicious fresh Pico de Gallo with cherry tomatoes, red onion, garlic, lime, cilantro, and jalapeno peppers. But if you’re short on time or missing some of the ingredients for the Pico de Gallo, consider using a good quality salsa like Herdez or Newman’s Own.
I served this yesterday to the 35 people who attended by Meatless Meals class at York County Library in Rock Hill. Everyone loved both versions and had a hard time figuring out which one contained dairy. I encourage you to make both the vegan and vegetarian versions and challenge your friends to figure out which is which!
- 2 cans refried black beans (I used one can of HT Traders Organic Refried Black Beans and one can of HT Trades Organic Refried Black Beans with Roasted Red Jalapenos)
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 11-ounce package of Beyond Meat Beef-Free Crumbles (Beefy or Feisty)
- 1 cup shredded Cabot white cheddar
- 1 cup Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds
- 1 cup Organic Valley Sour Cream
- 1 cup Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Sour Cream Alternative
- 1 16- ounce package Wholly Guacamole Classic
- 1-2 pints organic cherry tomatoes
- ½ large red onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1 fresh jalapeno pepper, minced
- ¼ cup minced fresh cilantro, or more to taste
- freshly ground salt and pepper
- ½-3/4 cup chopped black olives
- Heat the refried beans in a lightly oiled skillet. Spread on the bottom of two lightly greased pie plates or a larger casserole dish.
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet, and sauté the diced onion until translucent. Add the Beyond Meat Crumbles and sauté until they are cooked (about 4-5 minutes if they start out frozen - a little less if not frozen).
- Layer the cooked Beyond Meat Crumbles over the refried beans.
- The next layer is the cheese or vegan cheese. Since I’m making two versions, I put the real cheese in one dish, and the vegan cheese in the other. Just make sure you remember which is which because the next layer is either the sour cream or vegan sour cream.
- Spread on a layer of Guacamole.
- Mix the next seven ingredients together to make quick Pico de Gallo, and then spread that over the Guacamole.
- Sprinkle the black olives over the top of the Pico de Gallo and serve. Just don’t tell your guests which version is vegan – make them guess!
You must be logged in to post a comment.