Black Bean/Black Eyed Pea Dip and Date Bars

Last night, I hosted 10 beautiful ladies at my house for wine and conversation. Most of these women are partners of First Year MBA students and we had a few gals who are new to the Winston-Salem community. It was a lovely evening of building community and further emphasized that Blake and I ended up in the right place for B-school.

We dined on appetizers including black bean/black eyed pea dip with veggies and Food Should Taste Good chips, cream cheese spread with homemade strawberry jam,  healthy date bars, desserts from Mt. Airy (home of Andy Griffith) and local watermelon.

My new friends asked for the recipes for the dip and date bars so here goes (please note I never follow a recipe so hopefully my measurements are correct).

Black Bean/Black Eyed Pea Dip
1 cup black beans
1 cup black eyed peas
2 small red onions
2 jalepenos
1 cup hot salsa
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp chili powder
1 cup cilantro
juice from 1 lime
2 tsp salt

Process all ingredients in a food processor or mash with a fork.
Serve with veggies and chips or fold into tortillas for delicious burritos or quesadillas.

Date Bars

Crust and Topping
1 1/2 cups almonds
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 tsp salt
2 tsp almond extract
10 dates
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tbsp honey

Filling
24 dates
1/2 cup water

Process almonds, rolled oats, salt, almond extract, dates, canola oil and honey in food processor or blender.
In an 8 by 8 pan, spread out half of the almond mixture and put the other half in a bowl to use for the topping.
Process dates and water for filling.
Top crust with filling and top with additional almond mixture.
Refrigerate for at least two hours and cut into 1-inch squares.
Serve or store in fridge or freezer.

These date bars make a beautiful dessert that you can feel good about serving your friends.