So this week has truly been a whirlwind... I started my internship in Occupational Therapy, and it's absolutely amazing. I am loving it more each day, and certainly made the right decision in a new career path for myself that's rewarding and creative.
Also, my sister had her baby yesterday, and our small family is slowly growing! Raegan Leigh was born at noon yesterday with a full head of pitch black hair, surely genetics homage to either her Native American or Black Irish genes. It's killing me not to have the time to go meet her, but I suppose I can make a futile attempt at patience just this once...
All this excitement got me in party mode, and I just want to whoop it up to celebrate all the exciting things going on these days. Alas, my schedule has me basically unable to do anything festive, but that doesn't mean that you can't have some fun! Here is a recipe for my Spinach Artichoke Dip in a Bread Bowl, a dinner party favorite when I have to make an appetizer and get sick of serving hummus or black bean dip.
This recipe spurned off of my conversation/argument with a friend that the salty mayo-laden version at a restaurant chain was the best spinach artichoke dip they'd ever had, and I said it could easily be made better with a bit of ingenuity. I added a bunch more veggies and spices and cut out over half the cheese of the average recipe I found to win this argument, and it's my go-to for parties and appetizers when I want to make something quick and crowd pleasing.
I also use fresh spinach that's wilted, because frozen spinach just makes me gag every single time. It's seriously like Oscar the grouch lost a fight with a garbage disposal... Bleck!
Spinach and Artichoke Dip in a Bread Bowl
- 1 loaf of King's Hawaiian Bread (or other large and round soft white bread.)
-1 bag of spinach
-1 T. Butter
- 1 can of artichoke hearts, drained, chopped
-1/2 cup water chesnuts, chopped
-1/2 cup red pepper, finely diced
-1 medium onion, diced
- 4 cloves of garlic,minced
- 8 0.z. softened cream cheese
-12 o.z. container sour cream
-1/2 cup mayo
- 1 cup parmesan cheese
-1 T. Garlic Powder
-1 t. onion powder
-1 t. salt
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley.
Directions: Heat T. of butter and add garlic and onions. Saute a minute or two until they start to become fragrant. Chop the spinach roughly and add it to pan, cooking until just wilted, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. In a medium mixing bowl combine the cheeses , garlic powder and salt with the paddle attachment or whisk slowly with a hand beater until combined. Add all the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. Cut the center out of the bread and spoon the dip into it. Chill at lest an hour before serving, can be made the day before.
This is the bread, and if you've never tried it, you really should... It's soft and sweet, a real treat I must say! (and it rhymes too!)
Just carve out the middle and spoon the dip in. You rip the sides off and dunk them in the dip. It's actually a pretty classy way to eat an appetizer if I do say so myself.
I just stick the top back on it to take it somewhere.
If you are feeling especially ambitious, you can certainly make your own bread for the bowl too!
I totally won this bet too, my friend had to admit that this was better than the salty slop we had at a chain restaurant, and while it's not as good for you as a banana, it's a lot better for you than what you'd get at most chain restaurants. You can also skip the bread and serve it with tortilla or pita chips, or carrots and celery.
I'm always on the lookout for ways to improve this recipe, or for other ones to try to get me out of my fixation for this one. If anyone has a great Spinach Artichoke dip they'd like to share, let me know! I have yet to come up with a really good warm one....
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