White Bean Dip

This has been a really long week. I woke up Sunday morning and my head was pounding and the room was almost spinning. Saturday night we went to a fabulous wedding (this guy was even staying at the hotel, that pic was snapped during dinner) and all the fun from the night before caught up to me. We had ourselves a nice greasy breakfast at I-Hop. (Who cares if they scored an F and are one of America's worst restaurants, it makes for great hangover food)

I slept for half the trip back to KC and felt somewhat human but had a bad craving for pasta. I decided to make a huge bowl of pasta salad to munch on all week. (I used this recipe, but added a ton more veggies. It was excellent!!)

Tonight the hubs pulled out some pasta we froze a few weeks ago for dinner. I told him no way, after having pasta salad everyday for the last 5 days, I needed a break from pasta. We decided to grill some burgers and after seeing Jules post about this dip, I remembered I had all the ingredients for it. I first saw it on Good Thymes&Good Food and have wanted to make it since.

Pita's weren't sounding good (ranked right up there with the pasta) so I decided to just serve this with some raw veggies (red and green peppers, carrots, zucchini, and celery). It was really good, especially with the red and green pepper. I definitely want to try this with the pita's sometime, just not when I've been on carb overload all week. :)

Giada's White Bean Dip




1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil, plus 4 tablespoons
1/4 cup (loosely packed) fresh Italian parsley leaves
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
6 pitas
1 teaspoon dried oregano

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place the beans, garlic, lemon juice, 1/3 cup olive oil, and parsley in the work bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture is coarsely chopped. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Transfer the bean puree to a small bowl.

Cut each pita in half and then into 8 wedges. Arrange the pita wedges on a large baking sheet. Pour the remaining oil over the pitas. Toss and spread out the wedges evenly. Sprinkle with the oregano, salt, and pepper.

Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, or until toasted and golden in color. Serve the pita toasts warm or at room temperature alongside the bean puree.