If you were to look at what I’ve been whipping up in the kitchen on a whim lately, you’d be a little worried about my everyday eating habits.
Last night, it was a from-scratch chocolate cake with homemade chocolate cream cheese icing—ugliest cake you’ve ever seen, but, Holy Jeepers! Was it divine!
And last week, my husband mentioned something about spinach, artichoke dip, and I paused, stared at him for a moment, then said, “I think I have all of the ingredients for that in the pantry!”
An hour later, we were enjoying ooey gooey mouthfuls of cheesy, spinach-artichokey goodness.
I snagged a basic recipe off the internet, and, with a few tweaks, achieved perhaps our favorite version of this rare treat yet.
So, of course, being the nice blogger I am and all, I thought I’d spread the love (in other words, if my hips are gonna spread, so are yours!) to you guys and share what I did to make my:
Cheesy Spinach Artichoke dip
Here’s what you’ll need to get started:
Here’s the breakdown:
- 2 cups parmesan cheese
- 1 (10 ounce) box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
- 1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
- 2/3 cup sour cream
- 8 oz.cream cheese
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
- 1/4 tsp. ground red pepper (or cayenne)—optional, but I find it adds the perfect little bit of sass to an otherwise garlic-heavy flavor
- Salt and pepper to taste (not pictured)
- 1 cup mozzarella
And here’s what you’ll do:
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Mix together Parmesan cheese, spinach, and artichoke hearts.
3. Combine remaining ingredients (minus mozzarella) and mix with spinach mixture.
4. Spread in an 8X8 casserole dish and sprinkle with mozzarella
5. Bake for 20-30 minutes.
6. Serve hot and bubbly with your favorite pita, toasted bread, or, as we did in a pinch, chips.
{Actually, this dish is better rewarmed the second day, after the flavors have all had a chance to meld together in a perfect harmony of calorically dense voices}
Sounds pretty stinkin’ easy, right?
And it is too!
Now, this is by no stretch of anyone’s imagination a “healthy” dish, despite the whole spinach + artichoke angle.
But as a special treat or party dish, it can’t be beat for flavor and simplicity (assuming, of course, that you’re in to cheesy deliciousness with a modicum of vegetable respectability thrown in).
Plus, if you get the mozzarella just a bit crispy on top, your husband will love you forever, and it will make for quite a pretty picture!
ENJOY!
P.S. Labor Day did not live up to its title. : /