Roasted Vegetable Skewers With Creamy Dipping Sauce

The Spatularettes have had a pretty busy week, so there hasn't been a whole lotta magic happening in the kitchen... until now that is.  We want to bring you a few more budget recipes, so over the next three days we are going to introduce two new recipes that come together into an awesome third recipe!  This first recipe for Roasted Vegetable Skewers with Creamy Dipping Sauce makes a great appetizer to serve to friends, a healthy weekend lunch, or a delicious side dish for grilled chicken or fish. 

Easy and versatile, just like The Spatularettes! 

<that's what she said> 

Haha just kidding, bad joke!

INGREDIENTS:

Veggie Skewers:

-1 sweet potato

-1 zucchini

-1 yellow pepper

-1 cup mini portabella mushrooms

-1 cup cherry tomatoes
-2 Tbs olive oil

-1 Tbs balsamic vinegar

-1 tsp salt

Creamy Dipping Sauce:

-1 clove of garlic, chopped

-15 basil leaves

-2 oz cream cheese

-6 oz plain greek yogurt

-2 oz blue cheese crumbles

-1 tsp salt

-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Soak bamboo skewers in water for an hour to keep them from burning.  Cover a large baking sheet with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

Cut sweet potatoes, zucchini, and yellow peppers into bite sized pieces.  Slice mushrooms in half.  If these veggies don't tickle your fancy, use whatever you like.  These are just some of The Spatularettes' favorites!

In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, oil, and salt.  Add vegetables to bowl and toss gently to evenly coat.  Add about eight veggies to each skewer.  Since the sweet potatoes need to cook longer, we suggest pairing them with a heartier vegetable, and skewing the more delicate ones together.  We did one set of skewers with sweet potatoes and zucchini, and the other set with tomatoes, mushrooms, and peppers. 

Put just the sweet potato and zucchini skewers in the oven and allow to roast for 20 minutes.  Turn skewers at least once during roasting process.  After 20 minutes add the other skewers to the baking sheet and allow everything to roast for another 20 minutes.  Make sure to turn skewers at least once again.  Remove from oven when veggies are tender, but keep an eye on them so they don't burn.

While skewers are in the oven, throw together the dipping sauce.  Add basil and garlic to a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until finely chopped.  Add cream cheese and continue to pulse until well combined and creamy.  Next, add greek yogurt and run food processor for about 30 seconds allowing dip to form.  Finally, slowly pulse in blue cheese crumbles and fold in salt and cayenne with a spatula.  (The cayenne is the secret ingredient that gives this dip an extra kick.  It won't make it too spicy though, so we suggest adding it, even if you aren't usually a fan.)

Hint from The Spatularettes: This dip also makes a great spread for sandwiches or paired with pita bread or pretzels.

XOXO,

Tall and Small