Spinach and Artichoke Dip

I don't know if we were super hungry or it were just too darn tasty (or perhaps both!), but this dip lasted maybe 10 minutes once it came out of the oven. I've always been a huge fan of a good spinach-artichoke dip, and this recipe makes it easy for me to have it everyday if I wanted! (That is probably not a good idea if I were keeping an eye on my girlish figure.) Give this one a try. Too bad my picture of it is so poor - it really is quite marvelous!

Ingredients:

1 bunch of spinach (make sure to rinse before steaming)

1 ½ cups of frozen or canned artichoke hearts (make sure to rinse before steaming)

6 oz. cream cheese (reduced fat is fine)

¼ cup sour cream (lite is fine)

¼ cup mayonnaise (lite is fine)

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

½ tablespoon red pepper flakes (it really does need this to add flavor; you can't really taste the spiciness)

4 cloves of garlic, minced

Tabasco sauce (optional)

Salt, to taste

Method:

1. Steam spinach and artichokes until cooked (drain any water). Once the spinach leaves are limp, remove both, and cut them up. You can leave them chunky or chop them up finely.

2. Sauté garlic with red pepper flakes and a bit of oil over medium heat. Don’t allow the garlic to brown; you’re just trying to take out the raw bite of the garlic.

3. Preheat the oven to 350°.

4. Soften the cream cheese by heating it in the microwave. Once heated, stir in the spinach, artichoke hearts, the sautéed garlic and red pepper flakes, the sour cream, mayonnaise, about 8/10 of the Parmesan cheese, and Tabasco sauce, in an oven-safe dish. The Tabasco sauce doesn’t make it spicy as much as it adds an interesting tang to the dip. At this time, you’ll also want to taste test and see if the dip requires some salt. Add salt to taste. Once the taste has been adjusted, sprinkle the remaining Parmesan cheese on top.

5. Bake the dish for about 10 minutes to warm the dip. We didn’t do this next step, but I would recommend turning the oven setting to broil for another 2-3 minutes while leaving the oven door open a crack. I think that would brown the Parmesan cheese on top and add a nice crust to it.

6. Serve with chips or crusty baguette bread. Delicious!