Miscellaneous Momma’s Bean Burrito Dip

 Miscellaneous Momma’s Bean Burrito Dip

Today I needed a quick and easy lunch, so chili pie it was.   Our kids love chili pie so much that we have to double it.  It sounded good except we had already opened and spread the 2 containers of cream cheese for a double batch across the bottom of a cake pan when we realized we only had one can of chili.  If you've never had chili pie, it's not a pie at all.  It's a dip that you normally make in a pie plate, which is where it gets its name.  Our kids love it, as I mentioned already, so we now use a cake pan instead of a pie plate so we can easily double it.  Technically I guess we should call it chili cake, lol.  But honestly that sounds pretty gross for some reason.  We'll stick to chili pie.  Anyway, all you need is a pack of cream cheese spread across the bottom of your pan, then a can of chili spread on top of that.  Cover it with a thick layer of shredded cheese.  Bake it for 15-20 minutes at 350 until it's bubbly.  Eat it with corn chips or tortilla chips.  If you're interested in switching things up, go out on a limb and try it with Sweet Chili Doritos.  I don't know when we first tried it that way, but it's definitely our family's preference now.  It's also really good with a baked potato.

Anyway, back to my Bean Burrito Dip.  Since their hearts were already set on Chili Pie, I decided to go ahead and make half of the pan regular Chili Pie, but I needed a quick fix for the other side or we'd all still be hungry.  So, I threw this together with what we had on hand, and it’s a keeper for a quick lunch or game day appetizer.  It is also one of those recipes that could easily be doubled.  While we were eating lunch, I asked my kids what we should call it, and my daughter initially said, "Taco Dip," but that's already a thing and seemed a little wrong.  Eventually we named it Bean Burrito Dip because it tastes exactly like the center of a bean burrito. It would probably even be good in a tortilla, but we just ate it with chips.  I'm telling you, if you like this kind of thing, this is a winner.  It was even good cold!

All you need are a few simple ingredients that you probably already have on hand.  You'll need cream cheese, refried beans, tomatoes with green chilies, taco seasoning, cheese, and chips.  That's it.  As far as the cream cheese goes, this is one of the few ingredients I am super picky about.  Philadelphia Cream Cheese really is the best.  I've tried the store brand versions, and they just don't compare.  If you find one that does, let me know.  I am a big fan of certain items from Kroger, and their fat free refried beans and lime tortilla chips are both staples in this house.  No other brands compare.  As far as the cheese goes, to me the brand doesn't matter, but hand grated is far superior than the already shredded kind.  It's worth the little extra effort.  And if you have a kiddo, it's a great way to get them involved.  My middle kiddo is my official cheese grater.  It tastes so much better to me... and it melts better. I pretty much never buy shredded cheese anymore.  If you do, no judgement, but just try it for a little while and see if you can tell the difference.

As far as ingredients go, this is a picture of what I used for the most part (I used a partial block of cheddar and a partial block of colby jack, just because they both needed to be used).  

My kids and I truly loved it, so I thought I'd share it with you.  I don't have a beautiful picture, because I wasn't really planning to love it so much and also because half of the pan was chili pie, so it wasn't super pretty to begin with.  Also, I didn't take a picture until we'd eaten most of it.  Plus, it's a bit on the messy side as far as scooping it goes, so this is the best I could do:

So without further ado... 

Bean Burrito Dip

Ingredients:

• 1 package of cream cheese, softened
• 1 can of refried beans
• 1 can of Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies (like Rotel), drained
• 1 T. taco seasoning
• 2 c. shredded cheese, like cheddar, colby jack, or a blend of cheddar/monterey jack
• chips for dipping, preferably lime tortilla chips

Instructions:

        1. Preheat your oven to 350. 

        2. Leave your cream cheese out to soften while your oven preheats.

        3. Once your oven is preheated, spread one package of cream cheese across the bottom of a pie plate.

        4. In a separate bowl, stir together the refried beans, the drained can of diced tomatoes with green chilies, and 1 T. taco seasoning.  Spread this across the cream cheese.

        5. Cover with a thick layer of cheese.

        6. Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes until it is bubbly around the edges, the cheese is melted, and it is heated all the way through.

        7. Serve with tortilla chips, preferably lime flavored.

        8. Enjoy!

If you give it a try, let me know how you like it.