Monday, September 15, 2008

Monday Night Football Spinach - Artichoke Dip

It wasn't a "guinea pig dinners" night, but Gary was so psyched about Monday Night Football tonight that I had to make some good game-watching grub. I tried to cull together a bunch of recipes for spinach - artichoke dip that I found online using the stuff I had on hand, and it turned out quite tastily, if I do say so myself. I used many non-fat or reduced fat items to lighten it up a bit, and it still was really good.

Ingredients:

15 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
7 oz. marinated artichoke hearts
1 pkg. fat free cream cheese, softened
4 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese (reduced fat)
4 oz. shredded Pecorino-Romano cheese, divided (could substitute parmesan here)
3 cloves garlic, minced (can be increased or lowered according to your taste)
8 oz. light sour cream
Salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste

Fresh oregano to taste

Directions
1) Drain and coarsely chop artichoke hearts.
2) Set aside 2 oz. (about 1/2 cup) of shredded Pecorino cheese.
3) Combine all the rest of the ingredients (excluding seasoning) and mix well.
4) Add salt, pepper, red pepper, and oregano to your taste.
5) Transfer to a baking dish-- I used an 8 x 8 glass dish.
6) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 20 minutes, until mixture is hot and bubbly.
7) Sprinkle the top with the last 2 oz. of Pecorino cheese and put under the broiler for about 5 minutes, or until cheese is brown and crispy on top-- watch it carefully!
8) I served it with tortilla chips.

Enjoy with a Dock Street, a fine Philadelphia beer.


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