ANYTHING YOU CAN DIP A CHIP INTO, IM ALL ABOUT IT. 

It's so funny to me the reactions I get when people find out I'm "plant based" or "vegan" (who cares what it's called, lets not give the label too much thought). Anyway, they give me this either 1) Disgusted look like how is my heart still beating and my body still standing 2) Puppy dog eyes like "you poor deprived thing you must eat bags of kale all day" look. 

Well, folks. That simply isn't the case. This girl loves parties, dips, and desserts WAY too much to sit at home and be sad with a bag of kale. I like to party with plants. It's a real thing and it isn't boring. It also isn't difficult.

Most of the time when I see "healthy" recipes on bloggers pages I'm drooling until I click the link and you basically have to give your whole day, blood, sweat, and tears for a small dish. So I promise you, Im not whipping up 18-step Martha Stewart recipes over here. This spinach and artichoke dip is EASY peasy lemon squeeze-y, because I'm the girl who melted her crockpot and ruined her boyfriends "pork roast and potatoes" dinner. Trust me, you can do this no problem

 
IMG_9448.JPG
 

Party with plants, yo.

You won't feel like you got run over by a cement truck the next day and your jeans will still button properly (unless you're like me and don't really have the whole "portion control" down quite yet). My favorite part about my two healthy party dips (see the cheese dip recipe if you haven't already, it's killer) is that people eat it without knowing it's "healthy." The absolute best is when someone starts digging into the dip and they're like "OMG I need this recipe what's in here" and I smile big and I'm like "It's all plants." If you have to get your veggies in, why not make it taste like a party, right? Right.

IMG_9445.JPG
IMG_9444.JPG
IMG_9443.JPG
IMG_9446.JPG

Okay, okay onto the recipe

Now, here's the deal. I haven't played around long enough with the fancy blogger recipe templates to know how to make this look pretty for you yet. BUT, I wanted to get this posted before the Holiday incase you lovely people wanted to add a plant based party dish to your Festive Food line-up.

Sneaky Healthy Spinach and Artichoke Dip

 
IMG_9447.JPG
 
 

ingredients

  • 3/4 Cup Cashews (Soaked overnight in room temp water or 1 hour in warm water)
  • 1 block soft Tofu (trust me, you won't even taste it)
  • 1/2 can diced water chestnuts 
  • 250 g Spinach
  • 1/4 Cup Nutritional Yeast
  • 2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1 Red onion, diced
  • 3 Tbsp Minced garlic
  • 1 Tbsp garlic powder 
  • 1 tsp Paprika

instructions

  1. Add cashews, nutritional yeast, apple cider vinegar, and tofu to a high speed blender or food processor.
  2. Blend until smooth.
  3. Bring medium sized pot of water to a boil and add your spinach, boil for 2 minutes
  4. Drain and rinse the spinach in cold water and wring out any excess water (should be "limp")
  5. Chop the spinach into small pieces
  6. Add olive oil, diced onions, and minced garlic to frying pan and sauté on medium to high head until onions are caramelized.
  7. Add water chestnuts and spinach to the pan and sauté to head the entire mix.
  8. Turn down heat and add blender or food processor mix to the pan
  9. Add garlic powder and stir
  10. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle, salt pepper, paprika, and extra garlic powder to taste
  11. We enjoy it with: Chips, pita bread, crackers, or red bell peppers!

Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animals!

But for real, try it out! Let me know what you think.