The Conscious Shopper: Vegetarian Recipe: Black Bean Nachos

Here's another reason to go veggie from Juliet Schor, a board director at the New American Dream:

A study on U.S. consumption from the University of Chicago estimates that if the average American were to reduce meat consumption by just 20 percent, that would be the equivalent of switching from driving a Camry to a Prius.

And now to continue on the theme of "Beyond Beans and Rice: Eating beans to save money and use your food storage" that I will be teaching at a vegetarian cooking class at my church tomorrow...

Black Bean Nachos

SERVES 4
COST: $0.40 per serving (not including toppings)*

2 cups cooked black beans (or 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed)
1 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. salsa or taco sauce
1 small garlic clove
8 flour tortillas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine beans, 2 Tbsp. of water, chili powder, salt, pepper, cumin, salsa or taco sauce, and garlic in a food processor. Process until smooth.
Heat in a skillet (or even the microwave will work).
To prepare tortillas, cut each tortilla into 8 wedges.
Lightly brush the tortilla wedges with oil and bake 3-5 minutes.
Turn each wedge over and brush with oil again. Bake 3-5 more minutes until lightly browned and crispy.
Serve the beans and chips nacho style with lettuce, tomato, and cheese and whatever other toppings you like on your nachos.

*Note that all costs are estimates based on prices in my area. Your costs may vary.

2 comments:

Stephanie, March 17, 2009 at 9:11 PM: Ooh, I bet my son would eat these. It's only got a teaspoon of salsa on it- he won't eat anything resembling a tomato in any way (tomato sauce, fine, tomato chunks, head for the hills!). But he loves beans, so I bet this would be a go! Thanks! :)

I picked up a can of butter beans this week, too, to make your butter bean burgers. We're trying to be even more frugal than usual- husband lost his job, sigh, so we're doing all we can to pull through with as much of our savings intact as possible. Hopefully something will come along soon. :)
Erin aka Conscious Shopper, March 19, 2009 at 8:21 PM: Stephanie - My kids are the same about tomatoes. I watched them pick all the tomatoes out of dinner tonight. Silly kids!