Coach Janae's Vegan Cheese Dip Recipe

Whether it is for a potluck of coach's meeting, Coach Janae often brings her famous vegan cheese dip, and it's always a hit. Here is her now not-so-secret recipe!

Cheese sauce stuff:
1 cup raw cashews
1 cup peeled chopped carrots
2 tbsps nutritional yeast
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 large clove garlic
1 1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 chili powder (or more to your liking)
1/2 onion powder
1/4 - 1/2 cayenne pepper (levelnof heat up to you)
+ 2/3 cup of water (may need a splash more if meeded)

Preparing the cheese sauce...
Soak your cashews in boiling water for about 30 mins...longer if you can they should be nice and soft. Drain and rinse.

Add carrots to pot, bring to a boil and cook carrots until soft. (You can also steam them, you just want soft cooked carrots). Drain and rinse.

Add all sauce ingredients to a blender (high performance blender is best- but if using a regular blender, you may just need to blend for a longer period of time and have the cashews ultra soft) and blend on high until soft and velvety! Add a splash more water if needed.

Dip stuff:
- 1 can diced tomatoes (drained as much as possible - very important otherwise it will turn out like soup) I like to chop up 1 or 2 fresh tomatoes as well...but this can be optional.
- 1/2 - 1 whole red onion... up to you how much
- 1 cup corn kernels (frozen corn) or use 1 can drained corn. OR 3 ears of corn - kernels sliced off.
- 1 can black beans (I've also used lentils- use what you have in the cupboard, chickpeas, white beans, whatever)
- 3-4 large handfuls of spinach- roughly chopped. More if you want!!

Honestly, this is where you can get creative...look at what's in your cupboard and what you can mix together with the cheese sauce... the options are limitless. 

Add all dip stuff to oven safe dish (I prefer a deep cast iron pot), add in cheese sauce and stir until well mixed.

Bake in preheated 425F oven for 25-30 mins. Stir well and bake longer if needed (usually another 10-20 mins depending on oven and thickness).

And enjoy! *Vegan chef's kiss