This vegan snack board with two dips–carrot cashew miso and white bean avocado–is perfect both as an appetizer and the main event when you just want snacks for dinner!

Another week has come to a close. If you have a Monday to Friday work week, the Friday feeling is hard to beat! While I can’t help but to acknowledge how trying and downright challenging this time has been for so many, I think it is also important to celebrate the simple pleasures that are still available to us. The pandemic has caused me to live very locally, and that has made the simple pleasures so much easier to recognize. For instance, I have found great joy in taking long walks every day along the river near where I live, observing the flora and fauna in a new light–finding a small glimmers of nature within the urban core. (Yesterday, I stopped along the river bank and saw a baby beaver, frogs, ducks, and woodpeckers, all within a small radius. It uplifted my soul.) I have also found myself looking forward to family dinners in a way that I never did before. If anything positive can come out of this time, I believe it is the recognition of how beautiful and rich a life lived simply and locally can be.

With that being said, no matter how much you love cooking, I’m going to bet that there are days, particularly towards the end of July, when the thought of turning on the oven or stove is rather unappealing. Add to that the fact that the heat has dulled your appetite. And while you could order takeout, you equally want to incorporate the bounteous summer vegetables from your farm share into something delicious and made with love.

That is where the snack board comes in. I sometimes call this type of a spread “vegan charcuterie,” though a true vegan charcuterie would have some kind of imitation sausage or meat, I suppose. It’s become somewhat of a summer tradition in our house to enjoy a snack board for dinner once a week. We’ll usually include a couple of homemade dips, bread, crackers, olives, fruit, and an array of raw vegetables. Paired with beer or wine, this type of a meal is surprisingly satisfying, and it allows the cook’s creativity to shine. It can also be slightly different every week, depending on the vegetables that are in season. And finally, if you have kids that aren’t extraordinarily picky, it can also be a fun meal to prepare and enjoy with them!

This particular vegan snack board includes two dips. One is a vibrant orange carrot cashew miso dip/pate that is very similar to a cashew cheese, and the other is a light green white bean avocado hummus. Both dips are easy to make in the food processor, and from there, all you’ll need to do is arrange some sliced baguette, crackers, vegetables, olives, and fruit on a serving board.

ingredients you’ll need for the carrot cashew dip

Raw cashews, carrots, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, garlic, light miso, sea salt, and pepper

ingredients you’ll need for the avocado white bean hummus

White beans, avocado, lemon juice, tahini, garlic, sea salt, pepper, and fresh herbs of your choice

how to make the dips

For each dip, simply toss all of the ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth.

a note on the avocado white bean hummus

Due to its avocado content, the hummus–you guessed it–loses some of its bright green hue the longer it sits. I recommend preparing it fairly close to dinner time for this reason. That said, it does keep in an airtight container in the fridge for several days; however, just as guacamole loses its colour, so does this dip.

I hope that this vegan snack board recipe gives you some late July weekend meal inspiration! The dips are also delicious on spread on sandwiches or used as a dip for roasted potatoes. They’re also tasty dolloped on top of cooked quinoa, rice, buckwheat, farro, etc alongside steamed broccoli and kale for a quick and easy meal.

This is how I like to build my own individual plate- if you can get your hands on a Jelly King Dry Hopped Sour from Toronto’s Bellwoods Brewery, it goes extraordinarily well with a meal like this!

If you make this, leave a comment and rating below the post to let me know how you enjoyed it! And if you post a photo to Instagram, tag it @upbeet.kitchen and #upbeetkitchen so that I can feature it in my stories!

Happy vegan snacking!