When you need a quick bite to eat, it’s easy to cave to processed bagged appetizers and snacks. Pop in the oven and they’re ready to go. The problem is those snacks are bad for you with preservatives and high amounts of sodium. To fight bad snack habits, try our bean pizza. You probably already have most of the ingredients on hand, and you can whip this up as quickly as you could make frozen pizza rolls.
Our hearty bean base is an ingredient you can make in advance and keep on hand as a healthy short cut ingredient. It combines Randall Pinto Beans with Porcini mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes to create a mixture you can use to add a boost of flavor to soups, dips or spreads. To prepare the pizza, combine the bean base and remaining ingredients then spread onto a pizza shell. It cooks quickly and gives you a great snack you can feel good about eating. After cooling, cut into wedges for easy snacking.
Party Pizza
1/2 cup Healthy Hearty Vegetable Bean Base (see below for recipe)
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
4 tsp mayonnaise
1/4 tsp Kosher salt
1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1/4 tsp. red chili flakes
1/4 cup chives , chopped for garnish
1 pizza shell
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients in a bowl except for chives. Spread onto of ready made pizza dough and bake for 10 minutes and then broil for 1-2 minutes until lightly browned and bubbly. Cool slightly and garnish with the chopped chives. Cut into wedges for serving.
Hearty Vegetable Bean Base Recipe
10 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 Vidallia or sweet onion, roughly chopped
3 shallots, roughly chopped
1 sweet potato, peeled and cooked
1 cup dried Porcini mushrooms, re-hydrated in warm water
1 cup sun dried tomatoes packed in olive oil
2 tbsp olive oil
1 48 oz jar of Randall Pinto Beans, drained and coarsely mashed
Combine all ingredients except the olive oil and Randall Pinto Beans in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to until the mixture is evenly chopped. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Heat the olive oil in a stock pot over medium-high heat. Add the puree and cook 8-10 minutes stirring constantly. If the mixture starts sticking to the pot, add a small amount of water to loosen it. Cook until the moisture has evaporated, then remove from heat. Let cool and mix in the mashed Randall Pinto Beans. Freeze in pint containers to keep on hand for a quick boost of flavor to recipes.
