Side Dishes – His Bite, Her Bite

Nora: This is a mash-up of multiple different vegan cheese and cream cheese recipes. It never really came out as a good replacement for either of those things, but it is an excellent dip or spread. It’s sort of like hummus but with all kinds of zesty flavors in it. Scoop with veggies, crackers or chips, smear it on a burger, use it as a salad dressing… just whatever you do, make sure everyone around you eats it; this stuff is potent.

Josh: I am formerly a professional hummus maker, as in I used to make it for a vegetarian cafe, and I tell you that to say I know an awful lot about delicious, creamy dips. This veggie dip is amazing. Who doesn’t love garlic, for one? For two, who doesn’t love indulging in creamy dips? For three, cashews are full of great nutritional benefits, so why not make yumminess out of cashews? It goes well with chips, crackers, sliced veggies, bread, or even as a thick dressing for a salad (what? You mean you don’t use hummus as a salad dressing? Why the hell not?). Basically this is a great appetizer, side dish, or feature in a main meal that you will always want more of.

Garlicky Veggie Dip

By: His Bite, Her Bite

Serves: 6-8 along with other snacks

Time: 10 minutes active, 30 mins to 26 hours passive

Omnivore Index: if they eat hummus, they’ll eat this

Ingredients:
– 9oz raw cashews
– 2 Tbsp lemon juice
– 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
– 4 Tbsp oil
– 2 Tbsp garlic powder
– 1 tsp salt
– 1 tsp onion powder
– 4 Tbsp nutritional yeast
– 1 Tbsp spice blend (we use 21 Seasoning Salute from Trader Joe’s, but Everything Bagel seasoning or McCormick’s Montreal Steak would also be nice)

Directions:
1. Ideally, soak the cashews in water overnight, refrigerated (anywhere from 12-24 hours). If you forget to do that, quick soak the cashews by putting them in a saucepan with about 4 cups of water. You want the cashews to be covered with water, plus a few inches above them because swell quite a bit. Simmer the cashews for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cover. Let sit 20 minutes.
2. Drain the cashews, put in the blender with the wet ingredients, blend until smooth. Scrape down sides as needed. If your blender is struggling, add water one tablespoon at a time.
3. Transfer the cashew paste to a medium mixing/storage bowl and stir in dry ingredients.
4. Chill dip in the fridge for at least two hours so the spices can hydrate.

Closing Arguments

Nora: it’s hummus, but with more stuff in it. What’s not to love?
Josh: it’s like you won the lottery if the lottery was delicious and creamy and “winning” meant tasting it.

Nora: Here’s a quick and easy recipe we love to break out for potlucks. It’s a cold salad so it works for summer. It has cranberries so it works for winter. There are seven ingredients, so it’s not even hard to make when you’ve procrastinated on putting it together until the hour before the event. I don’t even like nuts and I like this salad! Oh, broccoli slaw, what *can’t* you do?

Josh: This slaw is like a holiday, one of the real ones that you get off work (if you’re still in the service industry or retail, dreams really can come true) – it’s delicious, it’s easy to make, it’s cheap to shop for (Aldi, anyone?). This has broccoli in it, which means you can pretend it’s healthy (and no one needs to know the dressing is basically vegan mayo); it also has almonds, which means protein (which obviously means healthy).

But here’s the best part: it is total comfort food. (It might as well be junk food. Being vegan rules.) If your family or friends don’t know how to feed an herbivore, or perhaps you’ve got a judgmental uncle, bring this to the gathering and nobody will even realize they’re eating rabbit food. Or don’t bring it, leave it at home and enjoy it all yourself.

Broccoli Slaw

Adapted from: Smitten Kitchen

Makes: enough for a good-sized potluck, plus a bit left over

Time: 10 mins

Omnivore Index: Completely indistinguishable from non-vegan fare.

Ingredients:
– 2 heads broccoli (or three crowns if you don’t like the stems)
– 1/2c sliced almonds
– 1/2c craisins
– 1/2 small onion, finely diced

For the dressing:
– 1c mayo (we like Just Mayo but any vegan brand works)
– 2.5 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
– 1 Tbsp sugar
salt & pepper

Directions:
1. Slice the broccoli florets thinly. Peel the stems until the barky parts are gone, then cut the stems into small chunks. Your cutting board and counter will be a mess. Sorry.
2. Mix broccoli, nuts and craisins in a large bowl.
3. Mix dressing ingredients in a medium bowl or large measuring cup so Josh* has fewer dishes to do.
4. Combine.

Keeps okay in the fridge for 5-7 days.

*If you don’t have a Josh to do the dishes for you, definitely consider the low Dirty Dish Footprint as a win. Why use two dishes when you can use one?

Closing Arguments

Nora: Crispy, chewy, creamy, salty, sweet… this salad has it all!
Josh: I’ll eat the shit out of Broccoli Slaw.