Hey kids! I'm back with some more recipes. I'm trying an experiment - since I actually have some time to write blog posts right now, I'm going to schedule them to post on different days so I don't have a million posts all on one day and then none for months. We'll see how this works.
First up, spinach and artichoke dip. This is very easy and doesn't have a ton of ingredients. It also has a fairly high vegetable to cream cheese ratio. I hate how sometimes you get spinach and artichoke dip and it's basically a pile of mayonnaise with a few token pieces of spinach in it. If I wanted to eat a pile of mayonnaise, I would eat a pile of mayonnaise. In fact, my recipe doesn't even have mayonnaise in it.
You can serve this hot as a dip for vegetables or gluten-free crackers or tortilla chips, or cold as more of a spread. It's really good with celery.
Ingredients:
1 8 oz package of cream cheese
Approximately a pound of fresh spinach, coarsely chopped (or a 1 pound package of thawed and drained frozen spinach)
1 small jar of artichoke hearts, chopped
1/4-1/2 cup diced onions (optional - I know some people hate onions)
A bit of olive oil or butter (or cooking spray)
A few tablespoons of milk
Optional - shredded cheese, whatever kind you like (old cheddar or parmesan is good)
Directions:
Heat the oil or butter in a large (you'll want a lot of stirring room) frying pan to about the medium setting on your stove (or just spray the pan with cooking spray). Add the onions and spinach (along with salt and pepper to taste), and cooking, stirring frequently, until the spinach is starting to wilt and the onions are getting a bit translucent. Add the cream cheese and chopped artichoke hearts. You can cut the cream cheese into smaller pieces ahead of time to help it melt, but even if you throw the block in whole, it will melt eventually. Stir the mixture until everything has melted evenly into the cream cheese, adding a bit of milk if necessary to thin it out. At this point you can scoop it into your serving dish as is. You can also melt in some extra shredded to cheese to play with the flavor a bit, or you can scoop it into an oven-safe dish, top with shredded cheese, and put it under the broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese. If you want to be extra-festive, top it with some smoked paprika.
