With three brothers, one husband and one son, I know that 'Little boys with their toys' grow up to be big boys with their toys. The toys may come from the local hardware store now, but tools, trucks and football rank high on the 'man-meter' in our house and lucky for my husband, at least one of our daughters loves football as much he does... perhaps even more, which I never knew was possible! I however, know where I plan to be during any NFL game. The kitchen. It's my time to cook one of the 'funnest' (yes I said funnest!) foods there are to cook ~ appetizers!

Here is a dish that is ever-so-popular at almost any get together... and there is a good reason for that. It tastes good. People like it.

I have made this numerous times and of course - use what you have on hand and improvise if you know your family or friends don't like something. Believe it or not, about 8 years ago I read on a recipe message board, an entry on a mexican layer dip where the poster (in all seriousness) said the recipe sounded great until she got to the end and saw it had black olives in it. She couldn't believe that someone would ruin a perfectly good recipe with black olives and then continued to rant and rave about how 'gross' they were and she insisted because it had black olives on it she REFUSED to make it and was so angry because it sounded so good up until that part.

I can only wonder - did the poor girl not even think to simply leave off the black olives?

For goodness sake... leave out anything you don't like. (I'm sure I didn't have to tell you that though!).

Layered Taco Dip

1 can refried beans
1 can black beans
1 16 oz container of sour cream
1 c chopped lettuce
1/3 c chopped onions - your choice
1/2 to 1 jar of salsa
1 package of three cheese blend
chopped tomato
black and green olives

Spread the beans on a serving platter or covered pizza round and top with rinsed and drained black beans. You can bake at 325 degrees for about 10-15 minutes now - and top with the rest as a cold topping OR finish layering the ingredients (sour cream, onions, lettuce, salsa, cheese, tomato and olives) and heat it all. Serve with sturdy tortilla chips.