Last Thursday kicked off the 2015-2016 NFL season. I am competing in fantasy football for the first time ever, and I’m actually doing two leagues — one with my family, and one with my buddies from work. I’m doing surprisingly well considering I have no idea what I’m doing!

In preparation for watching my first Sunday football games yesterday, my brother agreed to come over and watch some football with me while I made us some vegetarian snacks. Unfortunately, I am a slow cook, so I was unable to finish prepping all of the different dips I made before he had to jet.

Nevertheless, I knew I would be meeting up with him and my parents later in the evening to watch some more football and Fear The Walking Dead, so I knew I still had some time to work it out.

I made guacamole, a tofu and queso dip, and a homemade ranch dressing. Of the different dips I made last night, I used Silk Almondmilk as a main ingredient. Almond milk is easily my favorite type of milk right now. I really like using it in my coffee, but I decided to highlight it in my different dips last night. I’ve been slacking on Meatless Monday this summer, so I figured I had better get my bum in gear sooner rather than later. Why, you might ask?

I am training for my first Ragnar Relay and my first half marathon, PLUS I am actually running the Navy 5 Miler on Sunday morning with my friend Andrea and her son Jace. What does that mean? It means I need to make sure that I’m getting some plant-based nutrients in my body as opposed to sweets that people might be bringing into the office over the next couple of months!

As I’ve said before, I love practicing Meatless Mondays because it really makes me step out of my comfort zone as a self-proclaimed gourmand, and it makes me cook instead of being a lazy lima bean and ordering out. The great thing about getting a chance to test out my Meatless Monday Night Football recipes on my family last night is that they also love veggies, and we had some yummy veggies and snacks to munch on while trash talking for our fantasy league, and while watching zombies after the game.

Today, I’m sharing my Homemade Ranch Dressing Recipe. It’s flavorful and dairy-free, which is really rare for me! Here is my recipe, which I modified from this Blissful Basil recipe. I hope you enjoy it!

Lex’s Homemade Almond Milk Ranch Dressing

Directions: 

Whisk all ingredients, excluding the mayonnaise, in a bowl. Add mayonnaise 1/4 to 1/2 cup at a time, and continue whisking.

Depending on your thickness preference, you may want to add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of extra mayonnaise to your dressing, keeping in mind that the dressing will become slightly more firm upon refrigeration.

For best results, I recommend refrigerating your dressing overnight to allow the flavors to really develop; however, you can refrigerate the dressing for 30 minutes and still achieve a delicious flavor!

I enjoy using my ranch dressing as a dip for carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower. I also recommend baked pita chips and bell peppers as dippers. My mom loved using the dip on her salad at lunch today and made a request for more dressing!

Flavor note: I really love the dill in this recipe. I rarely use dill in recipes, but I absolutely love the distinct flavor. I will definitely be trying to figure out different ways to incorporate dill into future recipes!

You can learn about other cool Meatless Monday ideas and recipes by visiting the Silk Sideline Meat website, and you can also enter to win a giveaway!

This conversation is sponsored by Silk. The opinions and text are all mine. Comments submitted may be displayed on other websites owned by the sponsoring brand.