Meatless Monday: Creamy Artichoke Dip
What an awesome weekend! As I mentioned previously, it was the big birthday/going-away celebration for my friend Leslie who is moving to Brazil. I was so relieved and happy that our dinner at Suzy Wong’s on Friday night went smoothly. Well, I guess smoothly is an understatement- everyone was raving about it both during and after! The NYC’ers in particular were blown away by how much delicious food we got for the price. So much so that a small group of them even went back hours later after some dancing at Tribe and ate again! Two dinners at one restaurant in one night. I’d say they liked it, wouldn’t you? ;-)
Saturday night was house party night, and we had loads of good food to munch on, including this dip that was a pretty huge hit. The measurements I’ve included below make one 8×8 dish, but since we were expecting around 40 people, I doubled the recipe, creating 2 dishes. That worked out perfectly because we were able to put one out early in the evening, and then another one later in the party when people started to get the munchies after a few glasses of wine. The original recipe I used didn’t call for goat cheese, but I had some on hand and thought it would add a good kick of flavor. Smart choice! This will definitely be the way I make it from here on out.
Creamy Artichoke Dip
Makes 6 servings (approx 1/3 cup). Adapted from Cooking Light.
Ingredients:
2 oz block-style reduced fat cream cheese, softened
2 oz goat cheese, softened
1/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
3 Tbsp grated fresh Parmesan cheese
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1- 12 oz package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed and chopped (I use Trader Joe's brand)
Cooking spray
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine the first 9 ingredients in a large bowl; stir until well blended. Stir in artichoke hearts. Spoon artichoke mixture into an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until artichoke mixture is hot and begins to brown*. Serve warm.
*I put mine under the broiler for just a minute or so to give it a little extra color.