Free Friday - Spinach Artichoke!

You've waited TWO weeks now for this one! It's going to be great! Spinach artichoke dip. I was going to make this today, but I think my spinach has spoiled. So, instead, I will share with you the source and my recipe and hope you enjoy this amazing dish - wheat free!

Who does not LOVE spinach artichoke dip??? When you're sitting in the restaurant and see it on the menu, don't your eyes light up and think of the hearty crunch of a tortilla chip with the rich creamy goodness of cheese and spinach with a kick of tart artichoke? And then you realize you can't have it.

But I assure you, you'll be glad you saved yourself the $7.95 by NOT ordering this one at the restaurant. This recipe was adapted (from: http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/appetizer-starter-recipes/spinach-artichoke-dip )

DO NOT, and I'll repeat, DO NOT follow her recipe. Not only does it have wheat in it, it does not have cream and I assure you, like the other reviewers, you may not like it much. Also, if you were following along on Monday, you'll remember, hot mayo is worthy of the garbage can, and I refuse to ruin perfectly good spinach and cheese and artichokes to the likes of hot mayo.

For a little change up or if you're needing a main course, take this dip, add chicken and broccoli, or turkey and peas for a meal.

Spinach Artichoke dip

(adapted from the link above)

20 oz of spinach cooked down and set aside

(or you can use the 2 -10 oz boxes of frozen, but that's just gross)

4 oz butter (or coconunt oil)

2 cloves minced garlic

1/2 small onion chopped

2 tBsp chopped thyme

2 tBsp grated lemon peel (can sub 1/2 oz of lemon juice)

3-4 oz of garbanzo bean flour

1 tBsp chicken flavor soup base

16 oz heavy cream

fresh ground pepper

couple pinches of nutmeg

2 cans artichoke hearts - chopped

4 oz of parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (PLUS a few generous handfuls)

8 oz of shredded mozzarella

Start with a large skillet, melt the butter OR oil over medium heat, add garlic and onion till tender - about 5 min. Stir in thyme and lemon peel. Whisk in the garbanzo flour until all the oil is soaked up and may start to clump - cook about 3 min. Gradually whisk in cream, making sure to break up all your clumps and the sauce is creamy smooth, add in the soup base, pepper and nutmeg. Continue heating on medium heat about 6-8 minutes to thicken - do NOT boil... your cream sauce will break! After it thickens, stir in 1/2 of each of the cheeses, completely melt THEN add in your spinach and artichokes. Stir well.

Preheat oven to 400f. Remove mixture from the skillet and pour into a baking dish (13x9 is fine). Sprinkle with remaining cheeses and pop into the oven for about 20 minutes. I did not use the broil method as she did because I had a glass pan. If you have a metal pan, you can go ahead and broil it. Baking kind of gives it that 'lasagne' melt together, awesomeness that you don't get from broiling though. I'd suggest the bake every time.

Serve with gluten free crackers, or use the casserole suggestions above for a meal. Either way, this recipe yields the most AMAZING, mayo free spinach artichoke dip. Your guests will swear you bought it at a restaurant and you'll know better from all the work, but it will be so worth it.

Enjoy!

Food Negligence

I think that should be a blog felony. You cannot write a food blog then neglect food. It just isn't right. You see, it all started on Monday (last Monday) with my delusions of grandeur....

I thought I'd get on the right track by starting to talk about hot mayo and how riled up I could get talking about that one thing that's so icky, but then with the saving grace at the end by tossing in a redeeming dish with no hot mayo! What a great game plan. Until I went to see Johnny. Oh ya. You read that one right. My birthday was this past Friday, and what did I get for my birthday? John Rzeznik. Well. Not like in my house, at my disposal (whoa is it getting warm in here???) but live in concert; an acoustic show worthy of all praises. I was front row, pretty much, one short girl kinda next to/in front of me but I was really close. My friend went with me and I shot some amazing video, very very awesome. He was on F-I-R-E fire. I was getting really bummed out waiting because I got there so darn early, since I was afraid of missing it, that I started getting so tired of waiting and thought about if it was going to be worth it. But alas, he was the last one on stage and boy did he rock it. Very alive and sounded like an angel. Good setlist, nothing crazy, BUT he did sing American Girl - hot! When John Waite doesn't come in and take over... =( I wanted to get it on video John singing American Girl live... instead I get this 80's throw back singer turned stage hog. Don't get me wrong, John Waite is great for his own songs. But John sings American Girl like a dream.

For dinner, I had the steak and shrimp fajita at a decent chain restaurant. Later that night a hit at the rack for some sushi. That was the day's dealings with food. I was going to try to be up early to write here but it just all fell through. I was going to go for a walk too and that didn't happen, and I was going to sleep more and that didn't happen either. Seems like I have some catching up to do. Saturday I did end up making a gluten free sugar free cake, but I'll have to replicate the recipe a few more times to make sure it's right on.

So. Since I partied with JR, screamed like a overzealous teenager, celebrated my birthday and had a blast this past Friday, it's time to get back to work. So, what's coming up on Friday?

Hint: What I was going to talk about last Friday. =)

Stay tuned!

Oh he's so beautiful... Like an angel with golden ethereal tresses and a voice from heaven... (am I going a bit overboard? NAH I DIDN'T THINK SO! hee hee!)