Back-to-School Bus Dip

To make this fun school bus layered dip, start by prepping your fresh ingredients:

 She brushed up on her math facts as I diced the California Ripe Black Olives, tomatoes and red onion.

On a flat platter, smear the refried beans in the shape of a school bus, using a spatula:

 Next, layer your guacamole on top of the refried beans.  Our guac recipe is 2 smashed avocados, juice of one small lime, 3 shakes of Tabasco, a generous sprinkle of season salt and garlic powder.

 Then, layer the guacamole with sour cream:

 Now, add your diced California Ripe Olives for the bus windows and windshield:

 Next, start adding your shredded mild cheddar cheese around the windows and fill in the bus.  I used a small black cup to outline the wheels and filled the wheels with black beans and red onion for the chrome part of the bus (rims, bumpers & lights)

Add the diced tomatoes for the school bus stop sign and brake lights.  The platter was finished with some blue sour cream (add a few drops of blue food coloring) for the backdrop and a California Ripe Olive road.

Here are four school children who started 2nd, 6th, 5th & 1st grades this week.  The school bus layered dip was a huge hit!  Serve with tortilla chips or more fresh cut veggies.

Have you tried making any food art?  The black olives really make the yellow cheese on school bus pop with color.  It only takes a little extra effort to create a really fun snack.  With Halloween approaching, start thinking about a baby carrot and/or orange pepper jack-o-lantern with black olive face:

We served this a couple of years ago at our Halloween Party.  You can check out our bunny head fruit platter for a fresh fruit idea.  Keep a can of black olives in your pantry for your next food art project!  This is such a good-for-them, kid-friendly snack to prepare with your kids.  Now, dig in!

Join the California Ripe Olives Back-to-School Sweepstakes:

• Follow California Ripe Olives on Facebook, visit the custom tab, and enter once per day for the chance to win an Amazon Kindle Fire HDX
• Sweepstakes runs August 18 - September 12, 2014
• Link to sweepstakes: http://clvr.li/VzSkGl

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.