Bean Me Up, Katie

Another work themed dip - birth control pills!   And while some thought you could only eat the little “pills” themselves, the whole thing is actually edible. 

I got my hands on some edible silver powder that is used on fondant on cakes, by using a brush to spread it on.  So since I could no paint anything on sour cream- I got a little creative.

I froze the dip with a thin layer sour cream on top.  When it was nice and hard whipped out my little Crayola paintbrushes I got at target and dusted the powder on.  YES!

WARNING: This dips does serves as a highly effective contraceptive for men and women as side effects of dip will most likely cause abstinence for at least 1-2 days. 

So the world was supposed to end with the second coming of Christ and I decided to have a Rapture party and make a bean dip.  After a good while of sitting in my Sarah Connor outfit, having no idea what to do, I decided to represent both sides of the rapture and not just the hellish future that awaited me and my friends.  

This was the one bean dip so far that I have done that had something inedible - Jesus (unless you’re Catholic). It’s hard to see in the picture but the flames (peppers) were totally 3-D, sticking out off the pan. 

But now October 21st is when the rapture is really supposed to happen  - but I’m pretty sure the chances of an awesome bean dip happening is much higher. 

Since I am an “artist” I figure I should show what are some of my favorite things to use when I make some of my creations. While I am still looking for new things to help make my dips super fly - there are a few items that I have already fell in love with.  Thanks goodness I have a roommate with such good taste!

First on the list are spatulas - but not just any spatulas - they are Le Creuset Silicone Spatulas.  From the Food Network and my beloved roommate Paul, I have learned that Le Creuset is some serious kitchenware.  So clearly I should only be using these on my dips.  

And it’s obvious - the sour cream spreads like a dream. 

I work for Planned Parenthood and some of my coworkers had been asking for a dip. Since  we talk about vaginas pretty much all day, I figured we might as well have it for lunch.  This one was pretty tricky as I had to do it all freehand, and mixing the colors was pretty tricky. 

But I got it done before work and we did a little remedial anatomy over lunch and it was delicious. 

(There are so many awful/good puns I could add here but I will stop myself).

This was the first dip I did for the hell of it ( well they all are - but no event attached to it).

I found an awesome lego shot of my little mushroom that helped me build my dip to scale. 

                                              The Lego Inspiration

After tediously cutting up peppers and cleaning up black beans (it took FOREVER) I could finally get started:

This is where ADD/OCD really helps!!!!

Breaking out the frosting bags - thanks to Michaels and the nice cake decorator lady who showed this novice how to work it!

Level complete… 

Now time for eating:

The First Bite is the Hardest

                               Enjoying the (Magical) Fruits of my Labor

                        The roommate and bean dip guinea pig, Paul

                                              Game Over.

Not sure how I’m gonna 1-Up this one. 

This dip I made for my friend Kelly’s housewarming party.  I chose a rainbow because Kelly is bright, beautiful and just lovely - like a rainbow!

This one was fun because I basically got to use every ingredient I could think of that would fir the ROYGBV criteria. While not all colors were available I did experiment with some sour cream with some added food coloring.

Inititally, I was thinking I was going to be a bean dip purist and only use the raw ingredients - but once I broke the sour cream seal there was no going back.  Look how coooool it looks!!

So when making bean dip I always have to make sure I know whether or not vegetarians coming to a gathering with a bean dip.  This is because refried beans contain lard (so gross but it makes it so yummy!).  So if someone is vegetarian (like my roommate Paul) I make sure to always grab the vegetarian refried beans - or make the beans myself.  

No biggie.

But it seems like a much bigger entity had a problem and was not fully upfront to its customers about what was in the product. Reportedly, Chipotle told customers on its website that non-meat eaters should avoid pinto beans.  This is so because the beans are cooked with  ”a small amount of bacon.”  Their black beans, however, are vegan. But none of this bacon business is mentioned on the actual menus - and servers do not tell customers either.  

But a Maxim senior editor, Seth Porges, who does not eat bacon, apparently has been eating a whole heck of a lot of bacon at Chipotle for years.  When he discovered what he had been actually eating, he  tweeted his findings which spread like wildfire.  He also wrote the CEO of Chipotle and garnered a response that they will change their menu to reflect bacon as an ingredient. 

Come on now, they are owned by McDonald’s… not that shocking. 

But eek.

So my friend Brenda and I decided to add a bean dip to our wine and cheese night. We took whatever scraps of bean dip material I had in my fridge and worked with what we had. Then we put a 15 minute time limit on it to come up with something fast… ready, go!

Brenda made the colors of the sour cream:

Taking pics of the creation:

Throwing the “paint around:

The finished piece of art:

I love Velvet Underground and I freaking love bananas. Let’s turn it into a bean dip!

Started over Sunday morning- did not like what I did Saturday night:

The work space while watching Melrose Place:

Ta- Da!

…. Wonder what Lou Reed would think?

Bean dip goes great with mimosas and floating:

This is the story how it all began. 

My Sunday Funday crew was having an Empire Strikes Back-B-Q and everyone was instructed to bring a Star Wars themed food.  Instead of doing my usual homemade hummus and veggies, and naming it after some Star Wars reference (with alliteration of course), I decided I wanted my snack to LOOK like Star Wars.  

 I went to my beloved google and found this Yoda Pizza.  Since I am a master of guacamole and hummus I figure I could certainly could concoct this into a bean dip…. right?

Yoda started with just a blob of guacamole:

…. The Final Product!

Yummy, it was!

Hello my name is Katie and this is my blog about bean dip.  

Bean dip?

Yes. Bean dip. 

Not sure how it happened but this non-artisitc, mediocre cook made a hobby out of making bean dip art.  No joke. 

Like custom cakes - I make custom bean dips. 

The whole thing started as a joke - but people kept asking for them  and these days the next logical step is to make a blog, right?

Hope you enjoy these little creations as much as I enjoy making them.