Roasted Carrot and Garlic Dip

Carrots are my favourite vegetable and I even contemplated photographing this carrot dip with carrot sticks for dipping. Because that is indeed one of the ways I ate it! But for this photo, I made cucumber dippers. My friend Michael showed me how to cut cucumber on a steep diagonal to make perfect chip-sized dippers. I am always looking for more ways to make vegetables feel like a natural part of fun eating. Cucumber dippers and carrot dip are great examples of fun vegetables!

And so there is no need for chips and salsa at your next snack attack or movie night. If you are searching for ways to eat more vegetables, try this easy carrot dip with veggie dippers. It's also good with sweet pepper strips, celery sticks, or even rectangles of the ribs of Chinese cabbage. (I have tried this and it was superb!)

Roasted Carrot and Garlic Dip
makes about 2 cups

In this recipe I used both lemon and orange juice, but you could use all lemon juice.

3 large carrots
1 whole bulb of garlic, unpeeled
1/2 t smoked paprika
2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 1/2 T orange juice
2 T tahini
6 T extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Chop the carrots into rough chunks. Roast the carrots and garlic in a 375 F (190 C) oven until soft, about 30 minutes.
Slice the root end off the garlic and squeeze out the flesh. Discard the skin.

In a food processor, combine all the ingredients and mix until smooth. Taste and add some more salt, perhaps, or a bit more olive oil.

Here are some other vegetable-based dips:

• roasted aubergine (eggplant) dip (and here's another version: baba ghanoush)
• cauliflower hummus
• quick tomato chilli jam
• muhammara, a roasted red pepper dip
• cream cheese and pumpkin dip (from Gimme Some Oven)
• cheesy Brussels sprouts dip (from Minimalist Baker)

What is another healthy snack food that you like?

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