My Own Personal Food Sustainability Series: Episode 4

If you are new to this series, check out "Episode 1" to get a better idea of the purpose, but long story short, we waste... A LOT. And it is not necessary and there are a variety of repercussions to that. I want to help people realize that, if they don't have an ingredient in a recipe, they don't have to scrap it! they can use something they DO have, allow it to be slightly different, and realize that it can still be good and nutritious. We're too 'Type A' with regards to nutrition, cooking, and meal planning. Bend the rules. Don't meal plan and go shopping for 15 new ingredients when you have a pantry and fridge full of food, just to match a recipe. Use what you do have to create something awesome, and nutritious! 

This particular post is regarding 7-layer dip (exciting, right?). So, my 7-layer dip is below. It looks great, and it was amazing!

But... to be honest, it is not quite what it appears. And, I am not sure it was quite 7 layers actually... When I think about it, it was more like 5... But first of all, let's start with the guacamole! I made layer dip in the first place because I had avocados I needed to use, but I was tired of plain guacamole. I also didn't have everything I needed for plain guacamole. Here is what I combined:

-Avocados

-Juice from a jar of jalapenos (I did not have lemon juice, which I would typically use, but you need acidic moisture for guacamole)

-Minced fresh garlic

-Diced onion

-Lighthouse guacamole seasoning blend

I would have loved to have added fresh cilantro, did not have that.

I spread the guac out, that was my first layer. Next, a layer of canned re-fried beans. Now, for the third layer, I did not have sour cream or greek yogurt, so I used a thick, greek yogurt based ranch dressing that I had in the fridge. Ranch actually went extraordinarily well with the other flavors in the layers. I made an entire layer just of spinach leaves - and use these liberally; they will obviously shrink a bit when cooked. Then a layer of cheese with sliced jalapenos on top. So in summary, that was:

-Guacamole

-Beans

-Ranch dressing

-Spinach leaves

-Cheese and sliced jalapenos 

Another way I ended up re-vamping the layer dip as the week went on, was by putting it in a tortilla in the mornings and having breakfast burritos out of it. Layer dips can really carry people a long way in a crunch. For a last minute get together, if you have hummus, olives, peppers, goat cheese, anything like that, layer it, bake it, and call it a Mediterranean layer dip; people will love it! If you did a layer of tortillas (corn or high fiber would be great!) on the bottom and top, it would be more like a Tex-Mex casserole. Lots of ways to use ingredients you already have, and enjoy yourself with layer dips!  

Also, below is a link to a good webinar more in depth about the Nutrition and Sustainability connection: 

https://ce.todaysdietitian.com/node/68425#group-tabs-node-course-default4

Hope someone enjoys!