The football season is upon us once again. Gearing up for Sunday gatherings in your home watching your favorite football team? Well what's a good football game without great food? Being vegan doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy eating dips and chips while watching football. Here are two fantastic dip recipes to prepare this season.

1. Tangy Eggplant Dip

Ingredients:

• 2 Medium sized eggplants
• 2 Tablespoon Tahini
• 2 Cloves of garlic, pressed
• 1 Fresh lemon, juiced
• 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
• ½ Teaspoon salt
• 1 Teaspoon black pepper to taste

Prepare:

1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
2. Place your eggplant in a metal baking pan and insert a fork into the eggplant.
3. Bake the eggplant whole about 40 minutes until it starts to deflate.
4. Remove from oven and let cool.
5. Scoop out the insides of the eggplant into a mixing bowl and mash with a fork.
6. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

Refrigerate and serve cold as a dip or serve warm as a sandwich. 

2. Vegan Baked Loaf Party Dip 

Ingredients:

• I Round loaf of dark bread
• 5 Green onions, chopped
• 5 Cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 Tablespoons vegan margarine or vegan butter
• 8 Ounces of vegan cream cheese
• 2 Cups of vegan sour cream
• 12 Ounces of vegan cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 Can of artichoke hearts in natural juices

Prepare:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut a hole about 5-inches in diameter at the top of your unsliced loaf of dark bread.
3. Remove the crust from the 5-inch piece you cut and set aside.
4. With your hand or spoon, scoop out the soft inside of your bread.
5. In a frying pan, sauté green onions and garlic in vegan margarine or vegan butter until the onions start to wilt.
6. Cut your vegan cream cheese into small chunks and place in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
7. Add your sauté onion and garlic to the vegan cream cheese.
8. Add vegan shredded Cheddar cheese to your mixing bowl and mix well.
9. Drain your artichoke hearts and cut them into quarters.
10. Fold the artichoke hearts into your mixing bowl.
11. Fill your hollowed-out bread with this mixture.
12. Replace the top of the bread.
13. Wrap your bread with double thickness of heavy-duty aluminum foil.
14. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 1-1/2 hours.
15. Remove from over and unwrap the bread.
16. Remove the top of bread and serve hot with warm garlic bread for dippers. 

Once the dip is gone, break the bread up into serving size pieces and pass it around.

Have fun this football season and enjoy vegan dip recipes while watching your favorite team.

Image: flickr.com