This Sunday is the Super Bowl, which I always equate with not only football, but food of course!
As a huge football fan, I usually get a little sad this time of the year when the season is winding down and the games are no longer on normal Sunday, Monday and Thursday times. But this year, I only feel a smidge sad because my team, the New York Giants, were TERRIBLE this year & it was often sort of painful to watch them play.
Still, as a Giants fan, it’s an interesting dynamic to have a Super Bowl game be between the Eagles and the Patriots. On one hand, the Eagles are the Giants’ nemesis, and being so geographically close to one another in New Jersey & Philly, it’s easy to hate on each other. On the other hand, the Patriots are annoying to anyone not a Patriots fan. Tom Brady is very talented, but it’s easy to hate on him & feel like the team is a dynasty that you want to see lose – and not win TWO Super Bowls in a row. But my husband and his family are all Eagles fans, & I like rooting for the underdog… so I can’t believe I’m saying it, but I think I’ll be rooting for the Eagles!
If I’m boring you with my sports talk, I hope that we can come together for the guacamole!
For the big game, I’m just having a few people over, but whether I’m having anyone over or not is usually a mute point, because I make lots of awesome food regardless! The Super Bowl is a great excuse for a foodie to have fun in the kitchen prepping delicious eats. In usual fashion, I like my food to be not only tasty, but also nutritious… After all, I love to nosh on some good eats, but I have no desire to eat thousands of calories in one sitting while watching the game!
Today I wanted to share 5 recipe ideas to whip up for the Super Bowl, including this week’s recipe feature, black bean taquitos with an avocado lime cashew cheese sauce. Let’s get to it!
Mexican Avocado Cups with Arugula Walnut Pesto {vegan + gf}. I recently created these babies for Shape, and boy are they yummy! Black beans, cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, and diced red onion are tossed with an arugula walnut pesto before being stuffed into the avocado halves. It’s such a satisfying way to get in a nice dose of produce. I think I might make them for the Super Bowl myself!
FYI, Lundberg Farms’ fiesta lime rice chips are awesome for scooping up the avo cup goodness (Anyone else love those chips?!).
Lemon Twist Hummus {vegan + gf}. I absolutely love putting fresh lemon in recipes, & this recipe is one of my favorite kinds of hummus! To make it, you only need a handful of ingredients, including chickpeas, parsley, tahini and lemon.
Healthy Mediterranean Flatbread Pizzas. Forget Papa John’s greasiness, these flatbreads, which I recently created for Shape, are a healthier way to satisfy your pizza cravings! Using pita bread instead of dough, these easy flatbreads are made with produce like artichoke hearts, avocado and cherry tomatoes.
And instead of calling for plain old marinara, the recipe features a pesto made with white beans, baby spinach, almonds, basil, a touch of olive oil, water, sea salt, and pepper. Top it off with a little feta (or not! it’s delicious without it, too), and you’re all set.
White Bean Bruschetta. For me, bruschetta is one of those things that just never gets old. Give me fresh, crusty bread and top it with a fresh tomato, basil & olive oil mixture, & I’m a happy girl. This recipe kicks it up a notch with the inclusion of a white bean spread that includes cannellini beans, pine nuts, grated Romano cheese, garlic & lemon.
Black Bean Taquitos with an Avocado Lime Cashew Cheese Sauce. Last but certainly not least, I’m sharing the recipe for these plant-based taquitos! I love Mexican food, and judging by this list, I’m clearly really into avocado these days.
To make the taquitos, we pulse a can of blacks, a can of tomatoes & green chiles & a couple of other ingredients, like cilantro, until mostly smooth. Then we spoon the mixture onto mini flour tortillas (you can use corn tortillas for gluten free version), and roll them up into cute little baby tacos.
While those are baking, to make the avocado sauce, we process some soaked cashews, avocado, fresh lime juice, nutritional yeast, garlic, water and sea salt until the mixture becomes kind of rich and velvety.
Once the taquitos are baked for just a couple minutes, they’re ready to be devoured. Either drizzle the avocado sauce on top, and use the rest to dip the taquitos in, or just use the avocado cashew cheese as a dipping sauce.
Black Bean Taquitos with Avocado Lime Cashew Cheese Sauce {vegan}
Ingredients
- 12 "street taco" sized/small flour tortillas I use ones about 26g each
- 1/2 avocado
- 1 lime
- 1/2 cup cashews soaked in warm water for at least an hour
- 15- oz can black beans drained and rinsed
- 10- oz can diced tomatoes & green chiles drained
- 2 T cilantro roughly chopped
- 2 TBSP nutritional yeast
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1/2 cup + 1 TBSP water
- 1/2 TSP fine sea salt divided
- 1/4 TSP paprika
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a medium to large baking sheet with cooking spray.
- In a food processor, combine the black beans, tomatoes & chilies, cilantro, and juice from 1/2 of the lime. Pulse for a few seconds until the mixtures is mostly ground but still has some chunkiness to it.
- Transfer a few spoonfuls of the black bean mixture onto one side of one of the tortillas. Roll the tortilla up, then arrange it on the baking dish, open side facing down. Repeat this process for all 12 tortillas.
- Bake the taquitos for 10 minutes, or until the tortillas are lightly crispy.
- Meanwhile, rinse out the food processor, then make the avocado lime cashew cheese: Place the soaked cashews, nutritional yeast, paprika, 1/4 TSP sea salt and garlic clove in the food processor. Pulse for a few minutes, or until the cashews become ground and start to form a smooth texture. You may need to scrape down the sides of the processor once or twice.
- Add the avocado in chunks, along with the water + remaining lime juice and sea salt. Process until the mixture in smooth and velvety.
- Once the taquitos are done cooking, remove them from the oven. Either drizzle the avocado sauce onto the taquitos, or transfer the sauce to a bowl to serve for dipping (or a bit of both!). Enjoy while they're warm.
Nutrition
Tell me… Who are you rooting for on Sunday? Are you making anything yummy for the big game?
Eagles al the way! The Patriots are obnoxious.
I’m really just here for the food and the commercials. I prefer college football. 🙂
Justin Timberlake at halftime, wootwoot!! I like college football too but don’t have a team I’m loyal to as you do..that always makes it more fun!
I hate to say it, but I can’t agree with you on the Eagles. (Don’t tell your husband…haha!) But, yes, I always find the Super Bowl to be one of those bittersweet times. Football is coming to an end, but that does mean that March Madness is starting to ramp up. (The worst is the end of college basketball…then we’re stuck with what? Baseball? Meh.) I love the idea of making taquitos to serve at a Super Bowl party. They’re the perfect size for finger food! 🙂
I’m sure you’ll be whipping up some good food for the game, David! I think I’m going to make your garlic monkey bread 🙂
haha oh this made me crack up. My husband grew up in Boston so he’s a major Patriots fan … and I honestly didn’t care about football before we met so therefore I was told I was a patriots fan. lol But I will admit I totally get into it now. BUT ANYWAY. Yes to football food! I’ve been debating what to make for the game … so many ideas! I love the sound of these taquitos!!
Ha, so you were indoctrinated in as a Patriots fan! So we’ll be rooting for different teams… but I’d share Super Bowl food with you any year lady! 😉
I get sad this time of year too Nicole — I love football Sunday! I’m a Raider fan and they were awful this year so I’m pulling for the Eagles too. Heck…I just want a good game! These snacks all look worthy of the big game!
It was an AWESOME game!! 🙂