Tex-Mex Pinto Bean Spread

I'm having a vegan taco night! Use this bean spread as the foundation for tacos by spreading on corn tortillas. Then simply add whatever else strikes your fancy - shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes. You only need to use the oven long enough to heat up the tortillas. Wrap in aluminum foil and bake at 300 degrees for about 5 minutes. Keep wrapped in the aluminum foil once out of the oven so they stay moist.

But as for the bean spread... pull out your food processor again. In it combine: one 15-oz can pinto beans, drained and rinsed, 1/2 cup chopped onion, 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro, 2 tsp. lime juice, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/2 a jalapeno pepper, seeded. Puree until smooth.

Transfer to a bowl and stir in 1/2 cup chopped tomato. The original recipe called for plum tomatoes, but I had to substitute a normal round tomato because of the recent salmonella scare! If you use a regular tomato, make sure to seed it first; plum tomatoes have less seeds than the regular variety, so you're mixture will be too watery otherwise.

Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon pumpkinseeds (also called pepitas; look for them with other nuts and seeds in the grocery store).

Now build your tacos however you like! The recipe makes 1 1/4 cups spread, and one tablespoon has only 20 calories.

Cost:
pinto beans $0.79
cilantro $1.49
jalapeno $0.20
tomato $1.82
pumpkinseeds $2.99