Four varieties of Cheesy Beany Sauce:  White Bean, Garbanzo, Kidney Bean, Black Bean.  By Beautiful Ingredient. — Four varieties of Cheesy Beany Sauce: White Bean, Garbanzo, Kidney Bean, Black Bean. By Beautiful Ingredient.

VEGAN | WFPB | OIL-FREE | NUT-FREE | 30 MINUTES OR LESS | EASY

Cracking the Kid Code

"That bean dip is literally the best. It is de-licious! Please make it again sometime soon."

That is a direct quote from...drum roll please...the smallest person in my household whose palate has hands down been the hardest to please.

And then later: "Mom, can I have a snack? Can I have that beany stuff?"

Uh, did I really hear that? Keep your cool, mom.

This kid likes it instead of cheddar cheese in a quesadilla and on nachos! Cheesy Beany Sauce creates a rich layer that covers the tortilla chips nicely like cheese does and is pleasant when heated with the chips. The boy just gobbles them up. Beans are naturally low in fat and high in fiber, protein, iron, B6, and magnesium, but he doesn't care that it has the nutrition he needs, he just likes how it tastes. Winner!

My guess is that this recipe can please the pickiest eaters because it has a pleasant texture (creaminess) and a flavor that's not too overpowering and a bit salty; often the right combo for those particular palates.

Beany Cheesy Sauce, kidney bean version.  By Beautiful Ingredient. — Beany Cheesy Sauce, kidney bean version. By Beautiful Ingredient.

Cheesy Sauce, Nut Based

I've been making a cheesy sauce using cashews for awhile, and I love it. It's not that it tastes like cheese; it fills the void of cheese. It provides the texture, saltiness, and fattiness that makes a cheese sauce so enticing, creating an opportunity to let go of dairy cheese, which doesn't agree with me. The fattiness of the cashews hasn't been doing me any favors, though. Nuts are so talented at providing comfort food - maybe too talented. With the cooler season, I am aware of my desire to hibernate with a big stash of them. Once I've had almond butter in my oatmeal and peanut butter on my apple and a nut sauce at dinner and a nutty dessert - well, I'm trying to be more aware of how often I'm reaching for them. I feel heavier than I'd like to when I'm leaning on nuts so much as a comfort food.

But what else is there?

Cheesy Sauce, Bean Based

Beans. Beans have a rich texture and are filling, yet have minimal fat. When blended, they're creamy. Think hummus. So I made up a batch of cheesy sauce similar to what I've been making with cashews, only with beans instead - and I got the reaction I got from the little guy. Woah! He's tried the cashew version and was ok with it, but this! Three cheers, hooray! While I'm trying to ease up on nuts, ideally maintaining them at condiment-status, beans are something I've been trying to eat more of. So this is a big score on many levels.

This recipe uses very simple ingredients, easy to find in most grocery stores.

Ingredients for Beany Cheesy sauce.  This one is using kidney beans.  By Beautiful Ingredient. — Ingredients for Beany Cheesy sauce. This one is using kidney beans. By Beautiful Ingredient.

Pick a Bean, Any Bean

I use kidney beans in the batch my son loves, and I've tried other beans, too. Changing beans of course changes the flavor and texture a bit, but it works with any bean I've tried: kidney, black, white, pinto, and even garbanzo, although that tends to be a little wacky; garbanzos have a distinct flavor. Adding a little curry and increasing the turmeric a bit (½-1 teaspoon) makes the garbanzo version a tasty curry spread. Black beans can create a funny color with the turmeric and nutritional yeast; leaving out the turmeric is fine, it will look more like a bean dip. It basically is a cheesy bean dip. Spreading the black bean version on a tortilla and adding more beans and toppings - oh yeah, we're getting those beans in now! The favorites around here are white bean and kidney bean cheesy sauces.

Cheesy Beany Sauce, Ready in 5 Minutes!

One of the best parts about this recipe is that, if your beans are already cooked/canned, it takes only 5 minutes to make. Yep, in 5 minutes you can have this delicious sauce ready to go!