What I Made Wednesday {Spinach-Artichoke Dip}

March is just around the corner. That means St. Patrick's Day and Pub fare - yum! This dip recipe is smooth and creamy and best when piping hot, right out of the oven.

  

What You'll Need
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 garlic clove, diced into teeny, tiny pieces
1 package frozen chopped spinach
1 small jar of artichoke hearts
salt and pepper, to taste
Small baking dish
Tobasco, optional for an extra kick
Dipping accoutrements like tortilla chips or veggies


What You'll Do
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Chop up the garlic clove. Thaw the spinach and rinse. Be sure to squeeze all the water out of the spinach.

The artichoke hearts I buy are sometimes marinated in an oil. If this happens to be your case, too, rinse the artichoke hearts under cold water. Dry slightly, then chop up into small to medium-sized pieces.

 To save money, I buy my Parmesan cheese in a block and use my mouli grater to shred the cheese into a fine, meltable size. Don't know what a mouli is? Click here. I absolutely adore mine!

If you don't have a mouli, you can use a regular box grater. And, if you're Miss Big Bucks or you're pressed for time, you can buy the already-shredded cheese in a bag.

Mix all your ingredients together until well combined. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Transfer to an oven-proof baking dish and place onto a baking sheet. All that bubbling could cause spill-over and you don't want clean that up, now do you?

The oven should be pre-heated to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and bake for approximately 20 - 30 minutes, or until slightly browned at the top and warmed completely through.




What You'll Need to Know to Finish
While the dip is baking, get your dippers ready to go. Usually, we dip with Tostitos Bite Size tortilla chips. We warm them slightly in the oven to get all toasty.

Another great dipper, and if you're low carbing it, is green, red, and yellow peppers. It's strange but dipping with peppers gives this Spinach-Artichoke dip a completely different flavor. It's hard to explain, but it tastes so good in a rustic sort-of way. I hope you try it!

And, finally, this is my latest find. We tried these Wild Riceworks chips for the first time with this dip and it was absolutely delicious.

My advice: try all three and let me know which dipper is your favorite.

Once out of the oven, let the dip sit for about 5 to 10 minutes (if you can wait that long). It will help save your mouth from 3-degree burns!