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Crazy Good Baba Ganoush

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baba-ganoush-vegan

Here’s a true story: Up until a few months ago, I had never eaten eggplant. Everyone I knew said it was either gross or bland or awful or terrible… you get the idea.

So, believe me when I say I was disappointed when I received 2 of them in our farm share box in July. I was going to have to throw them out. Because – gross. bland. awful. terrible. Right?

Well, thankfully, I didn’t throw them out. No offence friends & fam, but I wanted to try them myself instead of just taking your word for it.

baba-ganoush

I tried them roasted. Bland. Gross. Awful. Terrible.

I tried them steamed. Even more bland. Even grosser. Even more awful. Even more terrible.

And then I only had one eggplant left, so I asked my friend Pinterest for help, and found this recipe from Minimalist Baker: Baba Ganoush. Like hummus! I love hummus!

So I made it. I tried it. I devoured it. I guess I do like eggplant. Prepared certain ways, of course.

vegan-baba-ganoush

I’ve received at least a dozen more eggplants from the local farm since July, and I’ve always either made eggplant fries (recipe for those coming soon!) or baba ganoush. I used Dana’s recipe as a base, then added a few more of my faaaaaavourite things, and that created some seriously crazy good baba ganoush.

I wonder if I could get my friends & family to eat it…

Crazy Good Baba Ganoush
 
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Recipe type: Dips
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1-2 tbsp avocado oil (or other high-heat oil)
  • 1 medium eggplant, peeled and sliced into ¼ inch circles + bit of salt
  • 1 large clove garlic
  • 3 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp tahini
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • ¼ tsp onion powder
  • ¼ tsp cumin
  • ¼ tsp coriander
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to broil on high.
  2. Sprinkle your eggplant circles with a bit of salt and allow to sit for about 15 minutes to remove excess liquid. Wipe clean with a dry paper towel or dish cloth.
  3. Arrange eggplant on a large baking sheet, drizzle with 1-2 tbsp of oil, and broil for about 8 minutes, turning once, until the eggplant is golden brown and soft.
  4. Add eggplant to your food processor, along with garlic clove, lemon juice, tahini, extra virgin olive oil, onion powder, cumin, coriander, and salt. Adjust for seasonings. Add fresh parsley and pulse until just combined.
  5. Serve with fresh veggies and enjoy!

crazy-good-baba-ganoush

Homemade Peanut Butter in Minutes

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Homemade nut butters have got to be one of the easiest things to make, ever. With only 1 ingredient, you can have delicious, creamy almond, peanut, cashew… any type of nut butter you desire, in just minutes.

Vegan-Peanut-Butter

Skip the store-bought stuff that is loaded with junk on top of more junk. Homemade nut butter is where it’s at.

Not only is it easy to make, and delicious, but it’s also way, way cheaper than buying it from a grocery store.

Peanut-Butter-Vegan

In our house, we go through a ton of peanut butter every week. Our 2 kids eat it almost daily, we have it in oatmeal, in smoothies, and in a lot of baked goods that I whip up. That means I always need to have peanuts on hand to make delicious homemade peanut butter at least twice each month.

Homemade-Peanut-Butter

I use either my KitchenAid food processor or the Twister Jar for our Blendtec blender to make my nut butters (I used the food processors for the peanut butter in these photos).

Both of them work really great for peanut butter, but I prefer the Twister Jar because it usually gets the peanut butter much smoother. If you like a chunkier peanut butter, you can just use a food processor.

When you make this peanut butter, the peanuts will go through various stages:

  • Crushed peanuts
  • Fine peanut powder
  • Peanut paste
  • Peanut butter dough
  • Chunky peanut butter
  • Smooth peanut butter

Once it’s done, it will be pretty thin because of the warmth from the food processor/blender, but let it sit in the fridge for a few hours and it will thicken up.

Homemade Peanut Butter in Minutes
 
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Homemade peanut butter in no time flat! Easy, delicious and inexpensive. What could be better?
Author:
Recipe type: Condiments
Serves: 1½ cups peanut butter
Ingredients
  • 2 cups of peanuts (I used raw & unsalted, then roasted them in the oven for about 5 minutes and allowed to cool)
  • ½ tsp salt (optional)
  • 1 tbsp coconut sugar (optional)
Instructions
  1. All peanuts to your food processor or blender, the process/blend until it reaches the smoothness you like, stopping to scrape the sides of the canister if necessary. For me (I like very smooth peanut butter), it took about 7 minutes in the food processor.
  2. Add in the salt & coconut sugar, if desired, and pulse a few times to incorporate.

 

Creamy Vegan Ranch Dip

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Ranch-Dip-Vegan

I’ve never been a big fan of Ranch dressing on salads, but for some reason, I find it incredible when dipping fresh veggies into it. Which is pretty much the same thing, since salads = fresh veggies. I guess I’m just weird.

The last time I tried my hand at Ranch dip, it was too runny for my taste, so I changed things up a bit, and now this one is much more to my liking. If you don’t like your dip to be as thick, or if you want to use it as a dressing instead of a dip, just add a bit more plant milk.

Vegan-Ranch-Dip

I used cashews for the dip you see in the photos, but I’ve also made it with tofu with great success. If you want to keep things soy-free, just use cashews.

Creamy Vegan Ranch Dip
 
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This ultra-creamy ranch dip is a much healthier version than the kind sold in grocery stores, and it really cannot be any simpler to make. Yum!
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Recipe type: Dips/Dressings
Serves: 1 Cup
Ingredients
  • 1 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours OR ½ block firm tofu
  • ¼ cup plant milk (I used unsweetened almond)
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 clove garlic
  • ¼ tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp dried dill (if using fresh dill, up this to 1 tbsp)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Add all ingredients to a high-speed blender or food processor and blend/process until smooth & creamy.
  2. Serve with raw veggies, crackers or just spoon it into your mouth. Mmmm.