Week 3: Hippie Heaven Dip

Despite the fact that Passover was technically supposed to end Tuesday night at sundown, our family decided it was over on Monday night. Every year, without fail, we think it's okay to throw the last night of this 4,000-year-old tradition out the window. So this year being no exception, we had mock chicken salad from Whole Foods on the softest whole wheat bread imaginable for dinner. Either it was the best meal we've ever had or breaking the rules really makes everything taste better. In any case, we had no regrets. And because we couldn't face the slew of raw produce in our fridge, we heated the last bit of "kale night" kale with Friday night's leftover potatoes, added melted cheese and it was kind of a fabulous dinner. But satisfying as it was, it was just a precursor to Tuesday night.

Having spent the better part of my twenties in some of California's finest hippie towns, I know the value of the black bean, the avocado and a good batch of cilantro. So every couple of months for the last 15 years or so, I and my loved ones feast on a layered dip that consists of black beans, avocado, green onions, cilantro, tomatoes, lemon juice, garlic and shredded cheese with either tortillas or tortilla chips. The very first batch was made on a cold Thanksgiving Day in Yosemite National Park. It being California, avocados are growing somewhere year-round and they are always ripe and available, even in the middle of a national park in November. So the mountain people and I had a potluck feast and this dip has been a little bit of a star ever since. Naturally, it was the perfect way to use our very first batch of CSA cilantro and, of course, work down the never-ending supply of green onions. The kids, try as we might, just couldn't tolerate the raw tomatoes or the healthy green bits on their plates, so we conceded to their demands and let them have tortillas with black beans and avocado for dinner. But considering that the hubby and I would have actually stolen the food from their tiny, innocent hands if it meant one more bite of hippie heaven, it was probably a win-win situation for all.