Recipe: Summer dip trio

If your garden is anything like mine, it’s overflowing with tomatoes, herbs and summer flavors. There’s a corner market in my neighborhood just down the street and I’ll often pop in there for an array of quick snacks or appetizers on short notice. But if it’s summer and I have the time, 9 times out of 10 I like to make my own with different items from the garden and roasted summer vegetables.

I’m of the mindset that you can never have too many herbs and fresh tastes the best. Each summer I do about ~15-20 different herb varieties and various different small tomatoes. Some years its a steady harvest stream for a few months and others it’s like a dump truck dumped off a load.

Sauces and dips are one of my favorite ways to unload as much produce as possible.

Here are three of my go-to’s:

Fresh Tomato Romesco

• 1 package sundried tomatoes

• Equal parts cherry tomatoes / whatever fresh tomato you have around

• 1-2 handful of walnuts

• 1-2 garlic cloves (I like garlic and I usually do two and it makes it really garlic-y. No vampires here.)

• Pinch of salt (Himalayan or sea) + pepper

Beet + Chive Hummus

• 1-2 roasted beets

• 1/2 can cannellini beans or garbanzo beans

• Handful of chives

• Roasted + caramelized onion for extra flavor if desired

• Balsamic vinegar

Herbed Edamame Hummus

(Full disclosure, I stole this from a friend and tweaked it)

• 1 Package Simple Truth Organic Edamame, shelled (or other organic edamame), defrosted, drained, patted down/dried of excess water

• 3 tablespoons (rough estimate) olive oil (I fancy black or white truffle kinds from this place in the Detroit area that makes a few different truffle products)

• 8-10 basil leaves

• 3-5 sage leaves

• 2-3 sprigs of thyme

• 2-3 sprigs of oregano

• Pinch of salt (Himalayan or sea) + pepper

Unless I’m making a huge amount, I like to make these all in my Nutribullet vs my Vitamix, because it’s way less clean up and I usually just make them ahead and store them in the fridge in the container.

Very little prep here besides washing the herbs, and many times I roast batches of vegges on weekends for the week, so often times I just pull some already roasted beets out of the fridge for this.

I dump all the items into the blender cup (each dip separately) and blend for a bit until I get the desired consistency. With the romesco, sometimes I like that chunkier with the walnuts, so I will let that go for less time.

These will probably keep in the fridge for a week, but they are usually gone before then.

I eat them as dips with gluten-free seed crackers, vegetables like celery or carrots or on salads or in wraps/tacos. Enjoy!