Good for the brain and good for the heart, almonds are also a great way to reg­u­late cho­les­terol. When I want some­thing fluffy and creamy to dip my veg­gies or rice crack­ers in, this is a great option, and a bit more unusual than the stan­dard hum­mus. For this recipe, I use a Vita-Mix, which has become an indis­pens­able tool in my kitchen.

This recipe is my attempt to repro­duce a soy-free ver­sion of an amaz­ing condi­ment, The Orig­i­nal Bitchin Sauce, a vegan, gluten, dairy free offer­ing from a local San Diego com­pany. I devel­oped this recipe to be soy-free, but feel free to add soy if you want to. If you don’t feel like mak­ing this on your own, I buy mine at Wind­mill Farms. I’m hop­ing it will soon be avail­able at Whole Foods – it’s creamy and deli­cious and totally addicting.

A note on the almonds. Either roasted or raw can be used. It’s best to just play around with this recipe. Raw almonds give it a fluffier, grit­tier con­sis­tency which I really like, but roasted almonds are just as tasty and pro­duce a some­what smoother dip.

Prep time: 5 min­utes
Total time: 10 min­utes
Yield: about a cup
Spe­cial equip­ment: Vita-Mix

2/3 c. raw or roasted, salted almonds (lightly salted if you can find them)
1/2 c. water
1/4 c. light or reg­u­lar olive oil
1/4 c. lemon juice

2  tsp. nutri­tional yeast  (I use Red Star Nutri­tional Yeast)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 large clove gar­lic sliced in quarters

1 1/2 T gluten-free Tamari or soy sauce (omit for soy allergies)

1. Place all ingre­di­ents, except soy sauce, in the bowl of the Vita-Mix and blend on vari­able speed high for 30 sec­onds. If you do over mix it, just trans­fer to a bowl and mix a bit of water in to fluff it up. If you are adding soy, add it here, instead of the water. Don’t add the soy with the other ingre­di­ents – it flat­tens the dip out.
2. That’s it! Store in an air tight con­tainer in the fridge.