A few nights ago, we were running late for dinner. It was Pea’s first day of ballet, and it’s late in the afternoon. Everything after about 4:00pm was pushed back. And when we got home? The kids were hungry, I had some turkey meat I wanted to use up, and so dinner was put off until a later hour, so that I could make a pasta dish with that turkey. We generally sit down to eat at 5:30, since the girls go to bed at 7:00 and 7:30. So I needed to give them something to snack on, but it had to be light. All too often, Pea has asked me for “cheese & crackers” as I am preparing dinner. And if I don’t give it to her, she becomes very cranky. Something about the smell of food being prepared seems to kick her appetite into high gear. So, I give her the snack, and inevitably we sit down to eat, she takes two bites and then asks to be excused.

So I poked around in the pantry, in the refrigerator, in the freezer. Nothing. But a bag of frozen lima beans. What could I possible do with those? That would be quick? Healthy? Light? So I googled (thank God for google!) lima beans ten different ways, and I finally landed on this recipe for Lima Bean Dip, from who else but Cooking Light. I love that magazine!

So I whipped up a batch. I only had about 2 tablespoons remaining of sesame seeds, but that seemed to be just fine. I served it with Stacy’s Simply Naked Pita Chips, and it was a huge hit. The girls loved it, as did my husband. In fact, he couldn’t believe that it was made from lima beans! This is another recipe that’s going into rotation around here. I made sure to stock up on frozen lima beans and bought more sesame seeds. The remaining few ingredients are staples around here.

And now, I’m covered…

And the girls? They inhaled their dinner that night, so I am pleased to say that for once, they did not fill up on pre-dinner snacks…