Finding a Family Favourite Series: Warm Spinach and Artichoke Dip

I tried out another version of Warm Artichoke Dip but this time it is a Warm Spinach and Artichoke Dip.  I am trying  to discover a family favourite or at least a mama favourite dip as I have found I quite enjoy them at restaurants but can not eat out all the time.  So far the recipes seem simple enough to make but how to find the right combination of ingredients to make a favourite go to recipe.  You can see my first attempt here.

Before I tell you about this attempt I should probably tell you that I’m not very good at following recipes.  No wait, I follow the recipes the best I can but it is when I’m grocery shopping that I sometimes buy a different item like no fat versus calorie wise, or plain cream cheese versus Greek yogurt cream cheese and so as a result my end product is slightly different.  In my first attempt it just tasted of too much mayonnaise .  So it wasn’t a hit.  This time I changed the type of mayonnaise I used.  So here goes my second attempt to find a family favourite Warm Artichoke Dip.

This is not a sponsored post for any products I have used.  I use whatever I have in my pantry or I able to find at the grocery store.  Which seems easy but not.

The ingredients I used:

1 cup of spinach

1 cup of chopped artichoke hearts

1 cup mayonnaise (Plain Original Miracle Whip)  this time

1/4 cup of Parmesan Romano Asiago (Funny Story about shopping for Parmesan Cheese I will explain later)

1 cup Cream Cheese with Greek Yogurt

1/2 cup Sour Cream

1 cup Mozzarella Shredded Cheese (half used in dip the other half used to melt on top)

How I made it:

1.  First I cooked the spinach in a pot on low heat until it looked like wet soggy green sludge.  Don’t show kids this they will revolt faster then they can ask for play time on the ipad.

2.  While spinach was cooking I chopped the artichoke hearts up into small pieces.  Then I put them in my mixer to make more of a paste.

3.  Added the spinach to the artichoke paste and mixed into more of a paste.  If kids ask what you are doing I would suggest saying you are making green paint that you will use to turn them into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Ewww….  no way mom we are outta here.

4.  In a bowl I combined the cream cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, half of the mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup of Parmesan Roman Asigo Cheese and mix together with a spoon.

Here is why I have Parmesan Romano Asigo Cheese and not just plain parmesan cheese.  I took my handy dandy shopping list, so proud I, one wrote what I needed down, and two that I remembered it.  So I took my list and my 3 kids to the grocery store.  I usually go shopping at a big box store; you know the ones where everything is laid out in specific sections but if you forgot something in the first section by the time you make it to the end there is no way you are dragging you sorry, tired butt with 3 kids back to the beginning.  This is what happened to me.  Some how I forgot to get the fresh parmesan cheese in the deli section and then I’m in the isle with sour cream, cheese and yogurt section only the store I went to on that day only had Parmesan Romano Asiago Cheese stocked.  Just my luck.  That will have to do because I’m not schlepping my cart and 3 kids back to find it.  This happens to me a lot.  I have these images of tasty yummy recipes dancing in my head only to not find the exact item I need at the store on the day I go shopping.  And when I’m in a groove to make something new from a recipe well I just have to go with my momentum.

4.  Mix green sludge paste into bowl and mix with cream mixture.

5.  Pour green sludge mixture into my baking plate.  Here is where Mr. Yoda says “why is it green? I’m not eating that.”  Whatever, more for mom even though I should not eat all of this if it happens to be the best thing on the planet.

6.  Add remaining Mozzarella cheese on top.

6.  Place in oven, bake for 7-10 mins at 325c (oven times vary)  Below is a pic of before it went in.

And the verdict is well better then attempt #1 but it tasted like something was missing.  Then I remembered that I didn’t add any salt or pepper.  I often forget to add these as I’m not a seasoned cooker.  My youngest two refused to eat it.  My eldest, bless him, tried it at least but wasn’t too fond of it.  He prefers nacho chips with salsa.  I liked it better then the first attempt.  I think the mayonnaise made a difference but like I said something was missing.  It was a lot creamier though.  So I will cook on trying to find the just right recipe to make Warm Artichoke Dip.