Cheezy vegan fondue dip

Happy New Year!!

It’s now officially 2012!

We kept it pretty low key on New Year’s Eve by watching some movies and the official ball drop, which was immediately followed by going to bed, ha. I know, we. are. party. animals. We did eat good, though. I wanted to make something fun, so we had fondue for dinner!

When deciding what to make, I looked around my kitchen to see what we had to work with and the fondue idea was partially inspired by a few ingredients we got on Friday at BADSEED farmers market. Enter:

Oyster mushrooms from Wakarusa Valley Farm in Lawrence, Kansas and whole wheat New Traditionalist Bread, made right here in Kansas City.

I made a cheezy fondue dip for our main course, and a chocolate one for dessert. The chocolate recipe will appear in my next post.

For our main fondue course, we used roasted vegetables and toasted bread for dipping. The veggies I included were carrots, broccoli, onions and celery. Very simply, I chopped them into large pieces, tossed them in a little olive oil, sea salt, and pepper and placed them on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, roasting them at around 400 degrees for 45ish minutes. (I suggest chopping them into pieces that almost seem too big, as they shrink a lot during roasting!)

I cubed the bread into bite sized pieces and placed them in the oven for about 10 minutes after the veggies were done so that they could toast a little bit.

Being how I don’t have a fondue set, I went all fancy (ha!) and simply put my saucepan right on the dinner table with a potholder, and we used kabob sticks for dipping. Not quite as cool as the real deal, but it worked well for us and it would be very easy to heat up the dip by simply putting it on the stove for a few minutes. Now for the cheeze recipe!

I made a “classic” fondue dip, vegan style. We thought it was pretty delicious and went really well with the roasted veggies and toasted bread.

Cheezy vegan fondue dip
-inspired by Spark Recipes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup low sodium vegetable broth
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup cashews
• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 3/4 cup mushrooms
• 4 tablespoons arrowroot (or cornstarch)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons onion powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Instructions:

• Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until completely smooth.
• Place mixture into a medium sized saucepan, bring to a boil, stirring continuously. Cook on low until thick (about 15 minutes). Be sure to stir often, so it doesn’t burn to the bottom of your pan.

And that’s it!

For optimal taste, I recommend taking a bite that includes every item -- if you can fit it in your mouth, that is, ha.

Yum! It was a fun and different way to eat dinner, and the possibilities are endless. It would be a fun idea for a dinner party or a date night at home!

Part II of our fondue dinner, which includes dessert will be coming next!

What’s your favorite fondue?