How to Make the Perfect Food Snack to Satisfy Everyone!

With all the activities and events that you are involved in - sports, family functions, movie night, parties and other gatherings, food is a necessity! You don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen; you want to be out there having fun with your friends, but you need food or snacks to make a get-together a great success. You need great food! What's more, you want something that you can make ahead, make quickly and easily, minimal cooking involved, satisfy a lot of people's food pleasures, be a filling part of a meal and a favored, all-around snack and if nutritious can be in there too- you've got the perfect food snack.

You may not be able to please all the people all the time, but you can get pretty darn close with this fantastic food/snack dish. You want something that will satisfy all the people, all the time - or at least as many as possible! Here is how to make the most wonderful, flavorful, best, all-round, people satisfying , quick, easy and nutritious food ever - its called The Sky's The Limit Bean Dip!

The first "best part" of this scrumptious dish is that you can make any amount you want! Whether you just want to make enough for yourself, or a crowd of 50 or more - this amazing bean dip can do that! It is simple and easy to accommodate anyone, anytime!

The second "best part" of this dish is that anything goes with the ingredients. The sky is the limit - just pick what you like or think your guests will like! Also, there are no specific measurements, so put away those measuring cups and spoons. All you need is a food processor, a sharp knife for dicing and the baking dishes you want to fill. Even if you don't cook - if you can press a button, dice some vegetables and work a microwave, you make this dish! The only "hard" part of making this crowd pleaser is just deciding when to stop! It goes so fast and easy, and the sky is the limit on the ingredients, so you will just have to force yourself to stop having so much fun when you are making it!

You can even use this as an "activity" at the party! Just have the beans ready in individual baking dishes and the toppings spread out so each person can create their own flavor combination of dip and then pop them into the microwave! It's like offering a "Value Meal" - pick and choose what you want off the "Value Meal" menu!

So let's get started!

Step 1. Get a can of refried beans - any brand you like, any style you like - it all works. Depending on how many people you are serving, you choose a big can, a huge can or for just yourself, a small can! Dump the beans into your food processor. You want a smooth consistency for bean dip so that chips don't break when dipped in, so you need to thin the beans out a bit. Grab your favorite salsa and pour some in with the beans. How much is dependent on how much beans you have in there.

A key to getting the right consistency is to add a little salsa at a time. You can always add more to make it thinner, but you can't take it out if you add too much and make it to thin. Press the button on the food processor and let it spin, adding salsa a little at a time until the beans are thick enough to not be drippy and thin enough to be able to be scooped with a chip and the chip not break. By using the salsa as the thinning agent, you are also adding flavor to the beans.

Step 2. Once you have your beans at the smooth consistency you like, pour them into a baking dish. Based on how much you are making and the size of your baking dish, spread the beans into one layer, no more than 2 inches thick. Now here you can also change to your own likings. One inch to two inches is the area you should be in, if you like a lot of beans or not so much beans but lots of other toppings.

Step 3. Now choose your toppings. You can add literally choose any topping you want - the sky is the limit! Olives, cheeses, peppers, chunk salsa, jalepenos, onions, anchovies, dill pickles, ... whatever you like or know your guests will like! Take the topping ingredients and start chopping. Dice up the onions, slice the olives, grate the cheese - whatever you have to do to the topping to make it bite size.

Step 4. Now the fun starts. To assemble the bean dip, take your prepared ingredients and add them separately in a "row" fashion. For instance, starting at one side of the dish, make a "row" of white grated cheese, then a "row" of olives, a "row" of yellow grated cheese, a "row" of onions. This makes a beautiful creation that will grab everyone's attention! Depending on the size of the baking dish, 4 "rows" of toppings might be all you can fit in one dish, but just get another dish and use other ingredients to make another "version" of the bean dip. For each dish, choose 2 or more toppings, and alternate them in "rows". If you want just cheese, make several "rows" alternating the colored cheeses. If you like just cheese and olives, alternate those two ingredients. "Rows" of olive, jalapenos, yellow cheese and onions make for beautiful color as well as a satisfying combination of flavor for your guests to choose from. This is the point where you can let your guests create their own version in individual bowls from your "Value Meal" menu!

Step 5. Cover the dish with a microwaveable cover and pop into the microwave. The time depends on the size of the dish and the thickness of the bean dip - use your own judgment. You just want to warm the beans up and melt the cheeses. When heated thoroughly, take it out of the oven and place the dish on the table with a bowl of chips and get out of the way FAST!!

Variations:

If you want to do if faster, spread the beans into the baking dish and heat them in the microwave at that time. Take the dish out when the beans are hot, and then do the "rows" of toppings. Once garnished as you like it, pop it back into the microwave to let the cheeses melt if necessary.

Cover the dish with foil and put in oven at about 300* for about 20 minutes. This is at your own discretion based on the oven and the amount of bean dip you have. Again, just warm the beans and melt the cheeses.

Once heated and ready to serve, you can add things like guacamole, sour cream or other non-heated garnishments.

If you like cold bean dip, just follow same instructions, but don't heat it.