Fast & Easy Bean & Hatch Chile Dip

Three ingredients and a minute of preparation results in a spicy yet creamy Hatch Chile and Refried Bean dip. This is nice paired with chips and salsa.

Last minute three ingredient appetizer recipes are NOT something I'm good at. I usually roast a vegetable (like this link to a sriracha butternut squash hummus) from the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share prior to processing it into a dip or layering it with other vegetables and cheese (like this link to avocado feta hummus) before serving. It's not terribly difficult, but it's got some steps.

Not this time. Not this dip.

I'd just whipped up a batch of fresh salsa using some roasted Hatch chiles and the pile of paste tomatoes from the garden [it worked fine, and was less runny than I'd expect for a fresh cantina style salsa--no recipe though] and I wanted a creamy counterpart. Looking around for inspiration, I grabbed a can of refried beans from the pantry [here's Kalyn's round up of slow cooker refried bean recipes for making your own], some cream cheese, and a couple more Hatch chiles.

I get freshly roasted Hatch chiles from the grocery store a mile down the road. Yes, I MapMyWalk'd it so I can declare the mileage on my half marathon training log. Simon is happy for the walk, and I love the flavor. I freeze individual chiles for use year round. If you don't have a source near you, a can of roasted green chiles would be a good substitute.

Fresh Corn, Hatch Chile & Feta Pizza

Fresh corn, roasted Hatch chiles, and feta cheese top this vegetarian summer pizza.

Even though the humans are remarking on the unseasonable weather this summer, the vegetables are going about their business as usual. It had [please notice past tense] been so unusually NOT hot & muggy that I really never considered grilling our Friday Night Pizza using the Mr BarBQ Grill Stone Pizza Set** that I won on Barry's blog Welcome to the Cookout!™. Speaking of winning . . . .

Did I mention that I won that prize? I did? Good. As with all giveaways, someone's going to win the entire prize package of kitchen tools and cookbooks I've been reminding you about lately. It may as well be you. I can't enter, and besides I already won a pizza set. I'm good. You can't win the #IceCreamWeek giveaway unless you enter. The contest ends on August 31st--enter here! 

Fresh Corn & Hatch Chile Sauté

Fresh sweet corn cut right off the cob, sautéed with roasted Hatch chiles, tomatoes, and onion for a simple, fast and flavorful vegetarian or vegan side dish

I'm really not sure why this dish exceeded my expectations. If you start with fresh, local, seasonal ingredients you invariably come up with delicious foods with little effort. One example is this colorful side of freshly sautéed corn kernels spiced up with roasted Hatch chiles.

I was so busy with the social media sharing aspect of #IceCreamWeek [have you entered? the giveaway ends 31 August. One winner takes ALL. Enter here!] that I had very little mental energy for thinking up new and interesting ways to cook the veggies in our farm share.