Vegan Nacho Dip

A friend gave me The Oh She Glows Cookbook, and as I flipped through the pages for the first time, this was the recipe that jumped out.  The dip was great!  I made a few changes, and had some friends present as taste-testers, who all agreed the result was yummy.  Truth be told, it's hard to mess up anything that's served as a dip with tortilla chips, right?!

1 cup raw cashews, (soaked in water for at least 2 hours, or up to overnight, and drained)

1 cup peeled and chopped carrots

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 large clove garlic

11/4 teaspoons sea salt

3/4 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 can original Rotel, drained  

2-3 handfuls baby spinach, finely chopped

a few handfuls of crushed tortilla chips, plus whole tortilla chips for serving

1-2 green onions, thinly sliced

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Lightly grease a 2-quart cast iron pan or casserole dish.

2. Make the cheese sauce: Place the carrots in a small saucepan and add water to cover.  Bring the water to a boil and cook the carrots for 5 minutes, or until just fork-tender.  Drain, reserving carrot water to add later.  (Alternatively, you can steam the carrots.)

3. In a blender, combine the cashews, cooked carrots, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, garlic, salt, chili powder, onion powder, cayenne, and 2/3 cup water (use carrot water if you saved it!) and blend until silky smooth, adding an extra splash of water if needed. Pour the sauce into a large bowl.

4. Make the dip: Stir drained Rotel and spinach into the cheese sauce until fully combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared dish and smooth it out, and sprinkle the top evenly with the crushed corn chips.

5. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, uncovered, watching closely toward the end of the cooking time to make sure the corn chip topping doesn't burn. Garnish with green onion. Serve immediately with tortilla chips.

Chocolate Banana Pancakes

These have been our go-to summer pancakes this year - my kids love them!  I double the recipe because they make great pool-side snacks (if we have any leftover!).  I made several changes from the original recipe found here.  

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3 Tablespoons cocoa powder

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 large ripe banana (the riper, the better!)

1 cup buttermilk (make your own by combining one cup milk with 1 Tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar and let sit for 5 minutes)

1 large egg

1 Tablespoon maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 Tablespoon vegetable oil

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.

In a small bowl, mash banana. Mix in buttermilk, egg, maple syrup, vanilla and vegetable oil until well combined.

Pour the wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until just combined. The mixture should still be pretty lumpy.

Spray a large pan with nonstick cooking spray (or butter!) and set to medium heat. Cook pancakes until bubbles form on the surface and edges are just cooked, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook for an additional minute.

Enjoy!