Vegan Queso Dip & Your Footprint

Alright, not the best photo ever. You try photographing queso dip. It just isn't pretty. Anyway, I had an even harder time because I desperately wanted to devour the whole bowl immediately. But, I held my gluttony at bay for your blog-reading pleasure.

All day I had been craving nachos, but it's been ages (read years) since I made queso dip. I used to mix Velveeta and salsa in the olden days, so I basically tried to re-create that here. Sadly, I had no Daiya, otherwise I would've used that to make this dip. But, I did have a stash of nooch in my cupboard, so I took that route. And, to my great surprise, it worked incredibly well. I made a lunch out of this queso with some baked tortilla chips. Okay, so I probably ate a bit more than I needed, but I was hungry and craving nachos something fierce. You can't fault me for having a craving, can you? You can!? Well, forget you. My feelings are so hurt right now that I may never recover. Not really. So, here's the recipe.

Makes about 2 cups, or enough for 2 adults to chow down.
Ingredients:

• 1 cup medium or hot chunky salsa
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/3 cup plus 1-2 TB nooch (nutritional yeast)
• 3/4 tsp cumin
• 2 1/2 TB flour
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder/granulated onion
• 2/3 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt

 Method:

1. Whisk together all the ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat sauce over medium burner. 
2. Bring to a gentle boil, stirring very frequently. Make sure that you scrape the bottom of the pan as you stir so nothing burns to the bottom. Remove from heat when thickened to your preference. I think mine took about 8 minutes or so. It should not be runny at all. I like it thick enough that if I dip a chip, the chip can stand up in the cheese without me touching it.

Earth-Friendly Footprint:
I was wondering today how large or small my ecological footprint is, so I took the interactive quiz on the following link: Footprint Calculator. After you get your result, go to the FAQ's to read more about what the results mean and how to work on changing them.

My result was somewhat surprising to me. I thought I was doing much better than I actually am. Granted, the calculator isn't perfect, but it does highlight ways in which I could try harder, such as in transportation and purchasing locally. Well, in the summer months, nearly every bit of fruit and veg I buy is grown locally, but being in Michigan makes it nearly impossible to have local produce in the winter months. And, this summer, I plan to start biking much more often, but I don't really live in an area that makes it easy to. Nor is there public transport near me. But, there are some other things I will be working harder on, like further reducing the items I purchase that require packaging and making more effort to reuse and upcycle before throwing things in the recycle bin.

If you're unfamiliar with the concept of upcycling, it's bascially taking something old and making it into some new, functional item. For example, you can make some really awesome pillows out of your old concert tees that you haven't worn in ages. Or take your wine corks and hot glue them together into a unique corkboard. I'm going to try making some upcyclables this month, so check back and see what I'm up to.

Have a lovely day. Or not. Whatever.