Vegetarian Frito Pie: Why Can't Super Bowl Food Be Healthy?

Frito Pie in Santa Fe

My southern friends brag about their trashy Frito Pie, which often consists of greasy meat chili dumped over a bag of chips, lots of high fat cheese and sour cream.

That won't fly in my vegetarian household. We enjoy our trashy food, but we have to have a few healthier twists.

When my kids were little, they loved the canned Health Valley chili. I developed a recipe based on the favor profile:

Vegetarian Chili

2 T olive oil

1 yellow onion - diced

2 cloves garlic - crushed

1 tablespoon salt

2 cup dried pinto beans, rinsed 

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

2 carrots, diced

1/2 C textured vegetable protein (TVP)

1 T cumin

Freshly ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne (more if your kids like spicy food)

In a large saucepan add olive oil and add diced onions. Cook until onions soften.  Continue cooking while adding pinto beans, crushed garlic and 4 C water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and stir in salt. Cook for 1 hour, covered, then add tomatoes carrots, TVP and cumin and cook till carrots and beans are almost tender, about 45 minutes.

Stir in pepper and cayenne to taste, and add more salt if needed.

Serve over brown rice, with a dollop of tofu sour cream if desired.

It's also good with guacamole.

For Frito pie, pour Fritos into a large baking dish (11 x 9)

Top with chili, grate low fat cheddar on top and dot with tofu sour cream. Bake for 10 min at 350, until cheese is melted.

Disney Side: I Think Bambi Was a Vegetarian

Brussels Sprouts, ready for roasting

It used to be hard to visit Disney World as a vegetarian, but the powers that be got smart, and now cater to all sorts of special meal needs: gluten free, Kosher and vegetarian.

So when I hosted a DisneySide party, I wanted to highlight fun vegetarian food . I had originally planned to do this for the Super Bowl, but I didn't get my Disney package in time.

We had to warn the kids to be careful of toothpicks. Wouldn't large colorful Disney toothpicks have been great?

The first thing I'd been wanting to try was Brussels Sprouts sliders. I figured these were a great party food, able to be eaten in a bite or 2. The recipe I found incorporated caramelized onions, marinated tempeh, grainy mustard and of course roasted Brussels Sprouts. They were complicated to make, messy and a huge hit.

Brains anyone? My vegetarian cauliflower soup

My youngest daughter has a recent obsession with cauliflower and I've been preparing it every which way. For the party I made a vat of cauliflower soup. I wanted to incorporate the villains theme and the mashed up cauliflower looked a little like brains. Vegetarian brains, of course.

Beet puree, before the toppings

We also had a beet puree that had a certain blood resemblance. But the roasted beets, topped with Za'atar, goat cheese and hazelnuts, was a pure vegetarian delight.

Lentils with roasted carrots

Our final dish wasn't the most attractive - intestines, maybe? But it was a crowd pleaser. It had French lentils, roasted carrots and a spicy harissa made with cilantro and habaneros.  I used purple and orange carrots to make it more colorful.


Note: I received a package of Disney goodies, for me and my guests; there was no other compensation.