Ok, so this recipe is going to be a lead up to Friday’s recipe.  I didn’t originally plan on posting it as a separate recipe but then I started putting it on everything.  I figured you guys might appreciate as much as I have. 

Story time!  When I was really young I was a slightly picky eater.  It wasn’t super bad and luckily my little sister was a SUPER picky eater so I looked good compared to her but I did have a few bugaboos when it came to food.

Onions.  Didn’t like them.  Weird texture kind of slimy and they were in EVERYTHING.

Mushrooms.  As soon as my mom told me how they were grown I said no thanks.

Guacamole.  I know!  But the color when I was little was just off-putting.

Sour cream.  I mean come on, the word sour was right there.  You shouldn’t eat things that were sour.  

Eventually, I grew out of all these things and I happily eat all of these things.  Except sour cream.  After I cut out dairy, I had to unhappily cut out my glob of sour cream on my Chipotle burrito.  It was a sad day because that was one of my favorite parts.  Then when I started to get into vegan and paleo cooking, I saw recipes for dairy-free sour cream.

I hesitated because I didn’t think these versions could live up to my expectations of sour cream.  It needs to be super creamy and smooth with a good tang and be nice and fatty.  While the recipes I tried matched the taste fairly well, I couldn’t get the texture or fattiness down.  Then I got my Vitamix and everything changed.  Creamy dressings and sauces were as simple as cranking my Vitamix up to 10.  So I had the taste and texture.  I just needed the fat.

Enter avocado.  I had no idea why I didn’t think of it sooner but adding avocado to my sour cream hit my trifecta of sour cream perfection.  I originally made this as a topping for a soup (coming Friday) but it’s perfect for so many things.  Mix it into chili, put it on tacos, use it as a base for dips or even baked goods that call for sour cream.  The possibilities are endless!

Ok, enough talking about it.  Get to making it!

Avocado Sour Cream 

• 1 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least an hour preferably overnight.
• juice of one lemon
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar (more if you like it tangier)
• 1/2 to 1 tsp salt
• 1 medium avocado (about 1 cup maybe a little more)

1. Drain and rinse the cashews and then put it into your blender or food processor.  Tip: High-powered blenders are going to give you the smoothest sour cream but if you only have a regular blender or food processor you can still get it pretty smooth it will just take a little longer.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy.  Those with a Vitamix or other high-powered blender, crank it up to the highest setting and let it run for about a minute.
3. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.