Fakeout ranch refried bean dip is worthy of being alongside my homemade salsa
Now I do my best to try and make everything homemade but I did not always know how to make food. The learning curve for me was huge, like a tidal wave of ignorance that felt impossible to tackle. As a result, I had a lot of fakeouts I used to depend on so and still totally love. Here are two of my favs!
I tried making homemade refried beans once with a potato masher. I never made them again! Maybe that is when I originally injured my shoulder? Now that I have a food processor, I will try again one day but the convenience of picking up a can at the grocery store is hard to resist. Fiesta night is a treat night anyway, right?
I just open a can of refried beans and put them in a medium saucepan and sprinkle a tsp or two of powdered ranch-style salad dressing on top. Stir together, cover and put on low heat while you make your tacos, enchiladas… If you do not have the powdered ranch dressing then just add some real ranch dressing and mix in. I think the original recipe for this dip also added a ton of cheese which is delicious but you can easily omit the cheese. We do.
This bean dip is such a hit with my husband and I that I have to ration our portions or else we will scoop it all up with way too many tortilla chips.
The next idea I think came from Bob Blumer who is known as The Surreal Gourmet. He made a breaded fish dish using potato flakes once and I have been using them for that purpose ever since. Remember my haddock mushroom dinner? That was made with potato flakes! I also use them for making chicken fingers. Get out your dredging station. If dredging is new to you this is a cute video to introduce you to the process. Just use potato flakes instead of breadcrumbs. (I also add some of the ranch powder to the flour for additional ranch flavour.)
So you slice up your chicken breasts into strips, dredge them and make sure they are coated with the potato flakes. Saute them in olive oil for a few minutes on each side. I always finish chicken off in a 350F oven for a few minutes just to be sure they are cooked through.
Dunk the chicken fingers in your favourite dipping sauce or make a chicken ranch wrap, such an easy and delicious quick fix for dinner! Those potato flakes are delicate and flavourful.
So do you have a kitchen confession when it comes to fakeouts? Oh please do share! With an injured shoulder, any flavourful and decadent shortcut is very welcome. Feel free to confess!
My sister in law has celiac disease so I use potato flakes for thickening instead of flour in soups stews and some casseroles. Also for thickening the meat mixture in shepherds pie!!
Hmmm..Both the ranch bean dip and the potato flakes are interesting ideas. I will have to give them a try.
That dip sounds delicious! I can’t wait to try it!
Amelia, that is genius! I will totally start using the potato flakes as a thickener. Hope you all enjoy the dip! You can add jalapeno to it to make it spicy.
Great idea with the potato flakes, I guess is does add a different flavour dimension rather than using plain old bread crumbs. My fakeout shortcut is to add instant pudding to my smoothies if I don’t have any yogurt on hand. It gives the smoothies a great sweet flavour and a velevety texture when blended(of course you still need to add milk). It acts as a bit of thickener as well. It’s great to have a few boxes of Jell-o pudding in the pantry for such “emergencies” LOL.
Ava, that is so smart! I mean CRAZY smart. I run out of yogurt all the time and get so frustrated, I have no idea that you can use instant pudding in smoothies. I am so going to try that out, thank you!