Andrea Banerjee

I just learned this weekend that I’m a soccer fan, apparently. I don’t think I’ve ever watched a game in my life, but my boyfriend had it on on Saturday and I sat down to check it out. It was so exciting! I’ve watched two more since!

My level of fandom will recede now that it’s the work week no doubt, but I had fun watching while we were both feeling under the weather. If you and/or your family find yourselves parking it in front of the TV for World Cup, you might enjoy this healthy snack. I wanted something really easy so I tossed it together with ingredients from other similar vegan “cheese” recipes I’ve tried, and items I had in the fridge. There are tons of similar recipes out there, so I like to use the same base and make things up as I go. I guess this is a vegan version of queso-meets-spinach-cashew-dip. It’s super tasty with pita or corn chips and very very quick to make (always a win for this lazy girl!)

Fitchick Pro-Tip: Get up and do some chores or push-ups on breaks from the game! You can actually squeeze in a lightning circuit-workout at halftime (try a 7-minute BBG round).

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw cashews
• 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1/2 cup chopped spinach
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp spicy hummus
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp chipotle hot sauce
• 2 tbsp warm water

Directions

1. Pre-soak cashews in warm water for one hour for a thinner dip. I think I only soaked mine for about 10 minutes!
2. Pour cashews, yeast, salt, hummus and garlic into the Magic Bullet. You may not need the 2 tbsp of water – I usually begin blending and then add warm water as needed.
3.  Blend for about 10 seconds. Stir and repeat. Check the texture- I wanted a thicker dip so I didn’t over-blend.
4. Pour into a bowl and hand-stir in chopped spinach. If you enjoy the texture, taste and pop of green of a more traditional spinach dip, I don’t recommend adding the spinach to the Bullet – it will puree pretty quickly.
5. Serve with corn chips, pumpernickel bread or raw veggies for a tasty soccer snack!