Take a Dip
From Living Plate Rx
Entertaining this summer? Make some crowd-pleasing dips. They are a convenient and delicious way to consume a wide variety of anti-inflammatory vegetables, spices, and healthy fats. While we love the convenience of purchased dips like packaged hummus, many brands contain unnecessary levels of fat and preservatives. Making dips yourself allows you to control the flavor and quality – and it’s easy!
The best dips begin with a creamy base made from foods such as beans, lentils, avocados, edamame, and roasted vegetables [eggplant, carrots, squash, zucchini, peppers, cauliflower] that are blended with oil or another liquid. Add flavor boosters such as tahini, garlic, hot sauce, nut butters, nuts and seeds, lemon or lime juice and zest to add dimension. Finish by seasoning with fresh and dried herbs, spices, salt and pepper and your dip is complete.
Here are some of our favorite dip recipes:
Vehicles:
Carrot chips or sticks – You can purchase prepared crinkle cut carrot chips or slice carrots on angle. Baby carrots work too.
Cucumber chips – Slice cucumbers on an angle to maximize surface area for scooping.
Broccoli or cauliflower – Lightly steam these vegetables to bring out their sweetness - you want them to still have the firmness necessary to dip.
Green beans – Remove stems, rinse, and dip. If you prefer, you can lightly steam these as well.
Endive – This nutrient dense vegetable is the ultimate chip – perfect shape, size, and sturdiness.
Peppers – Red, yellow, and orange peppers provide a variety of phytonutrients and are milder than green peppers.
Celery sticks – Firm and crisp, celery is a go to vehicle.
Snap peas – These can be consumed raw or lightly steamed.
Cherry tomatoes – We love using grape tomatoes on our crudités platters, but dipping them can be tricky. Using toothpicks can help keep your fingers free of dip.