Vegan Ranch Dip

I hate to admit it, but I'm one of those people that could eat ranch dressing on anything and love it. Lettuce is merely transportation for ranch dressing into my mouth. And I hate that. I wish I didn't like ranch one bit but there's simply no way around it. And the fat free/low fat stuff is just no good. So in attempts to find a healthy substitution, I found this recipe. And while I don't claim to love it, it's a decent substitution for me!



You'll never guess what the base is! No cream of any kind here!

It's CASHEWS! Here's what you'll need.

Raw cashews, fresh basil or any herb you have on hand, garlic powder, onion powder, curry and lemon juice

First things first, lets start with the water. Where I live, in the summers the water usually tastes SERIOUSLY AWFUL! You can smell it when the faucets running. It has to do with algae that grows in the water when the temperature reaches a certain high. Anyhow, in the summer we use filtered water.

Then you'll need 1 cup of raw cashews.

And water. They need to soak for about an hour.

Then throw them in a blender with some fresh squeezed lemon juice, about 1 Tbsp and blend away!

This is where I think I messed up a little. I should have blended it a little more. In the end my ranch was more of a dip than a dressing. I would have also added another Tbsp of lemon juice! Go ahead and add some salt and pepper.

Then grab your fresh basil and parsley and throw a handful in to the blender.

Looking good at this point...

I'm going to tell you what I did next, but I don't recommend it. I like curry in SOME THINGS, this is not one of those things. My original recipe called for 1 tsp but as soon as I put it in I regretted it. I also added a tsp of garlic powder and onion powder.

At this point, I tasted the dressing and wasn't too pleased. I went out and clipped some of my chives and thew them in. This helped, I added a little water to thin it out some and a little extra garlic powder, although I should have just put in a clove of garlic.

And this is what I ended up with! I would make a few changes next time, but there will be a next time!