Graveyard Taco Dip

Adapted from Chickabug Blog and my dear friend Kathy’s taco dip recipe

When I first saw this amazing idea turning a dip into a graveyard, my mind immediately went to my yoga friend Kathy’s wonderful taco dip. We beg her to bring it to our yoga parties because it is SO good! She says when she serves this dip that nobody can believe it’s Greek yogurt. I texted her when I saw this graveyard dip because I totally wanted to make it with HER fabulous recipe. She texted me back … it’s just Greek yogurt with chili powder and hot sauce, add refried beans, veggies, whatever you want.

Okay, I had Kathy’s “recipe” in hand, but when I went to my cupboard to pull out the ingredients, I discovered I had NO chili powder! Eeek! Well, luckily, I did have powdered green chiles, so I used that, but I know that REAL chili powder also has some spices in it like cumin and garlic and onion, so I added a bit of that too. If you have chili powder, you can skip that part.

I also added a layer of guacamole. Kathy usually puts fresh chunks of avocado on top of her dip, but I was making this well ahead of time and didn’t want the avocados on top to go all brown and yucky. I thought since this graveyard has a layer of salsa on top, that should protect the avocado from oxidation. (And also, I added a little lemon juice to help keep it green.)

The trees and tombstones are made out of flour tortillas, cut into shapes and then toasted in the oven on a pizza stone until they’re crisp. I was a little intimidated about cutting out a tree, thinking my feeble attempts were pretty ugly, but after they were toasted, I decided they looked kinda like trees after all. After the photo shoot I ate all the tombstones, so I’m going to have to remake those. I tried to save the trees by cutting off the bottom that was submerged in the dip (which promptly went into my mouth … nom nom!), but I lost a branch from the big tree in the process. Oops! I hope they make it till our cooking class on Wednesday.

Graveyard Taco Dip

• Prep Time: 45 minutes
• Cook Time: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 55 minutes
• Yield: 1 large layer dip 1x

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 can refried beans

For the “sour cream” layer:

• 1 1/2 cups plain nonfat Greek yogurt
• 3 oz. Greek cream cheese (or Neufchatel), softened
• 1 – 2 teaspoons Mexican hot sauce
• 1 – 2 teaspoons chili powder (or 1 teaspoon powdered green chile pepper + 1/4 teaspoon EACH: onion powder + garlic powder + cumin)

For the guacamole layer:

• 2 – 3 perfectly ripe avocadoes
• 1 – 2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon cilantro pesto or finely chopped cilantro (optional)
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped fine
• Salt, to taste

For the top layer:

• About 1 cup shredded Mexican blend of cheeses
• Your favorite salsa (I used my Copycat Chili’s Salsa – recipe here)
• Green onions & olives, chopped
• Flour tortillas, cut into tombstone shapes & tree shapes
• Black food marker

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Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 400 F.
2. In an 11-cup glass pyrex pan or other rectangular glass pan, spread the refried beans evenly across the bottom.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, mix the Greek yogurt, Greek cream cheese, hot sauce, and chili powder. Adjust seasonings to taste. Spread this mixture over the refried beans.
4. Rinse out the mixing bowl and dry it, then mash the avocadoes in the bowl. Add the rest of the guacamole ingredients and stir to mix. Add salt to taste. Spread this over the Greek yogurt layer.
5. Sprinkle the top with cheese, then cover with your favorite salsa. Sprinkle with chopped green onions and olives.
6. Cut tree and tombstone shapes out of flour tortillas. Set them on a pizza stone in the oven and bake for 5 – 10 minutes or until crisp and lightly browned. Use a black food marker or piped black frosting to write names or “RIP” on the tombstones.
7. Just before serving, push the bottom end of the trees and tombstones into the dip. Serve with tortilla chips for dipping.

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Notes

You can make the layer dip ahead of time and add the trees and tombstones just before the party starts. Cover and refrigerate the dip until it’s getting close to time to party.

The dip is gluten free except for the flour tortilla “decorations”, so if you have gluten-intolerant people at your party, make sure to use gluten free tortillas to make the trees and tombstones.

RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/

© Copyright 2014, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.

This recipe was shared at What to Do Weekends, Weekend Potluck and Munching Monday.