spinach dip

CIC: Black Beans & Mayonnaise

~ lk529 ~ 2 Comments

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Today’s Crazy Ingredient Challenge is to combine black beans and mayonnaise. To be honest, I voted for both of these ingredients, but that didn’t mean I had an idea.

And then I forgot about it. Taking two vacations back-to-back will do that to you.

When I always have black beans in my pantry and mayonnaise in my fridge it would have been a little inexcusable to skip this event.

Surprisingly, I was able to come up with an idea and make my dish on Sunday! I had game day food on my mind, and even though it was just the boys and me, I still made a perfect dip for watching football from the couch. I took inspiration from a warm spinach dip and added some black beans and southwest spices.

Firecracker was napping (gasp!) while I got the dip in the oven and he woke up just in time to take it out. Turned out the be the perfect distraction mechanism for his post-nap fussiness. He said it looked good and said he wanted to eat it. Of course, I had to take a picture first! Literally, one. I told him it was still hot and he informed me that it was cool now. So, out of the ramekin and into a different bowl to spend a few minutes in the fridge. I think he ate 2 bites; the smart kid really just wanted the chips within his reach. I loved the dip, and will definitely make it again for company. I’m looking forward to my afternoon salty snack this week, now!

This recipe will serve 2-3 people.

Black Bean and Spinach Dip

Ingredients:

  • 4 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 2 1/2 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 3/4 C shredded Mexican blend cheese
  • 2 C packed baby spinach
  • 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1/4 tsp chili powder
  • 1/8 tsp cumin

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredient until incorporated.
  3. Divide dip between two 16 oz ramekins. Bake 30-35 minutes, until dip is bubbly and the top is slightly golden.
  4. Serve warm with tortilla chips.

Black Bean and Spinach Dip for Crazy Ingredient Challenge from Sew You Think You Can Cook | http://sewyouthinkyoucancook.com

To see the other bloggers who participated in this month’s Crazy Ingredient Challenge click on the link below.

A “Date Night” Potluck Party

~ lk529 ~ Leave a comment

We had our final Recipe Club meeting last week. With most of us moving in the next couple of months the group looks like it’s fizzled to a stop. I had a great time with these ladies and met my best friend up here (and Firecracker’s best friend, too!) through this group and I am forever grateful. I couldn’t have imagined this assignment here in Ohio without these fabulous ladies and the clubs and groups that I joined while here.

For our last meeting I suggested “Date Night” as a theme, taking a cue from the holiday this Sunday. We had a very small gathering, only six of us! (There are seven items listed below because I brought two dishes.) I wasn’t surprised by the small turn out as most of our husbands are in hunker down mode finishing up their theses..thesii? I know I can’t wait for thesis defense to happen and the stress level in our life go down just a tad. So it’s no surprise that there was a good deal of chocolate on the menu during out meeting!

Date Night Recipe Round UpHere are the recipes that were brought to the “Date Night” potluck”

SRC: Spinach Artichoke Dip

~ lk529 ~ 28 Comments

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It’s Secret Recipe Club Reveal Day! In the Secret Recipe Club, each participating blogger is assigned a blog from another participating blogger and secretly searches their site for something to recreate. The accompanying blog post then goes live on reveal day! So while I was immersed in my assigned blog, someone else was picking through mine! I’m so excited to be part of this group, to see what on my blog peaks other’s interests and to stumble upon new blogs and new recipes.

This month I was assigned the blog Hapa-tite written by Nicole. “Hapa” in Hawaiian means “half” and is a slang term used for people of mixed heritage. A term Nicole uses proudly; she is culturally Hawaiian and ethnically  Chi­nese, Chero­kee, Ger­man, and Amer­i­can! Nicole lives in D.C. and explores many great restaurants. She posts reviews on her site, so if you’re in the area be sure to stop by her page!

I saved a few recipe contenders from Nicole’s site including double chocolate espresso cookies, citrus corn muffin scones, and healthy spinach artichoke dip. It wasn’t until after I made the latter and started typing up this post that I saw her newest blog entry for cardamom pear muffins. That’s what I get for not procrastinating this month!

I had to make some changes to the dip based on Nicole’s substitution recommendations: instead of aioli garlic mustard sauce I replaced half of the mayonnaise with Dijon mustard (If you’re sensitive to mustard I’d adjust the ratio to use more mayo, however that bite from the mustard is, in my opinion, what made this dip addicting.); I chose to include the Greek yogurt because I prefer creamier dips (I might even add more!); and I had to use a marbled cheddar instead of white due to product availability.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Ingredients:

  • 1 can (14 oz) artichoke hearts, drained and rough chopped
  • 1 box (9 oz) frozen spinach, thawed and drained
  • 1/2 C shredded Parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 C shredded cheddar (white recommended)
  • 1/8 C mayonnaise
  • 1/8 C Dijon mustard
  • 2 tbsp Greek yogurt

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Mix all ingredients until combined. Season to taste with S+P.
  3. Pour dip into a lightly greased oven safe dish (I used a pie dish).
  4. Bake 20 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips, pita, bread, or veggies. Reheat in microwave 1-2 minutes as needed.

*This recipe is adapted from Nicole at http://hapatite.com/healthy-spinach-artichoke-dip/*

Spinach Artichoke Dip for SRC from Sew You Think You Can Cook

To see the other bloggers who participated in the Secret Recipe Club this month click here: