Coconut-Dill Veggie Dip

Yesterday we hosted our first BBQ since moving into our new home. We love entertaining and it's so great to have a huge backyard and a full-sized grill. Plus, our new house is plenty big and not all of our "living space" furniture is crammed into one room anymore! I think last night's BBQ was a great success--everyone seemed to really enjoy the food, beverages and conversation. YAY! 


We had burgers, brats, a veggie platter, a fruit platter, and our friends each brought a little something to share. There were crackers and olives stuffed with anchovies and wine and these OMG-to-die-for-sweet potato fries baked with pumpkin pie spices (Thanks, Nicole and Brian--you two are brilliant!). Are you drooling yet? Well, if not, I think you will be soon because I'm finally going to get the point of this post...


Coconut-Dill Veggie Dip

Ingredients

• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/8 teaspoon yellow mustard seed, ground
• 1/4 teaspoon dill (fresh is best, but dried dill weed will work just fine)
• top half of a 15 ounce can of coconut cream (make sure you don't shake it up before opening; you want to use the top half of the can b/c that's where the most fat/cream/pulp has settled--if you use too much of the liquid below it, the dip will be too runny to dip veggies into)

Method

1. Combine spices in a mini bowl.
2. Scoop out of the can into a small bowl the top half of the coconut cream. 
3. Blend the spices into the coconut cream.
4. Chill for about 5 minutes in the refrigerator.
5. Serve and enjoy!

As you can see from the picture, I served my dip with baby carrots, broccoli, celery sticks and radishes. The dip was sweet and creamy up front, savory in the middle, and finished with a tiny bite in the back. It went well with all of the veggies! 

Honestly, this was completely a last-minute experiment. (By last-minute, I mean it--I started putting this together at 4 p.m., exactly when the party was supposed to start, haha. Lucky for me, the first fashionably-late friend didn't arrive until 4:45 p.m.) My goal was to make a Paleo-friendly ranch dip for our veggies; I had even purchased a ranch flavor packet earlier that day just in case my efforts failed. But I really didn't want to use that packet because it was littered with preservatives and such. 

I was nervous. I tried to look up recipes for making ranch dip from scratch. All of them were different and called for things like mayo and sour cream. But I got a vague idea of what spices to use. I threw caution to the wind and mixed a few spices together. That's when I started to get excited. After I tasted the final product, I was thrilled!

I think if I had had the time to add some paleo-mayo (freshly made with egg, lemon juice, mustard seed and coconut oil), it might have had that tangy, ranch taste. However, I love this recipe just as it is. I love the sweet coconut, the savory dill with onion and garlic, and the little kick at the end from the yellow mustard seed and black pepper.

And the best part: Everyone loved it.

I hope you will, too. :)