Using fresh spinach in your recipes will increase a little bit the preparation time, but the food will taste slightly better than if you used frozen or canned spinach. Fresh spinach can be cooked in many ways, but for making a dip, the best are steaming or microwaving.

This is a dip recipe based on fresh baby spinach and canned artichoke hearts:

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs fresh baby spinach leaves
• 1 can artichoke hearts, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 1 average onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Worcester sauce
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream (low-fat is also fine, if you’re concerned about your heart health)
• 1/4 cup flour Cayenne pepper and salt according to taste

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves: 6

Cooking procedure:

Wash the spinach very well, then steam it or microwave it for maximum 2 minutes. Dry it very well and chop it. In a skillet, put the olive oil, add the onion and the garlic, sauté for 2-3 minutes, then add the flour. Cook it for one more minute stirring continuously. Let it stand for a few minutes, then add the Worcester sauce, the sour cream, the cottage cheese, the spinach and the artichokes. Cook it on low temperature, stirring gently, until the cheese melts completely into the mix. This will take about 8-10 minutes or maybe less, so don’t leave the pan unattended. Add salt and pepper, pour everything in a bowl and serve the dip hot with toast bread or tortilla chips and with salsa.

Ingredients:

• 10 ounces frozen spinach, thawed, drained and cut small
• 1 can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 1 garlic clove, peeled, minced (if you want to go to a date after eating this dip, you can skip the garlic)
• 1 small onion, chopped (to be skipped as well if you intend to kiss somebody that night)
• 2 cups cottage cheese
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise (light)
• 3-4 bacon slices (smoked bacon is nice; if it’s not smoked, it’s better if you pre-cook it a bit)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves: 8

How to cook it:

Mix together the cottage cheese, the garlic, the onion, the salt and the pepper, half of the Parmesan cheese quantity and the mayonnaise. Stir them well, or use a food blender if you want to be faster (although if we think how much time it takes you to wash the blender afterwards, you could use a fork as well). Add the bacon, the artichokes and the spinach and stir gently, until everything blends well. Oil a baking dish and pour the dip inside, then put it in the pre-heated oven for 20 minutes. After that, remove it, top it with the rest of Parmesan cheese and put in back in the oven for ten more minutes.

Serve the spinach artichoke dip hot with toasted pita bread cut in four or with French baguettes. Raw vegetable sticks can also be a tasty dipping. Try carrots or celery.

Ingredients:

• 1 can artichoke hearts, drained
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced (can be replaced with garlic powder or garlic salt)
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 8-10 oz frozen spinach, thawed, drained and cut small
• 1 cup fat-free yogurt
• 1 cup fat-free cottage cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar (or freshly squeezed lemon juice)

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Serves: 8

Cooking procedure:

This is one of the fastest artichokes and spinach dip recipes. It’s easy to prepare because canned artichokes are pre-cooked, spinach is very good raw and the other ingredients just go inside as they are. Basically all you need to do is mix all ingredients together in a big bowl, stir well, let everything sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, then serve it. Be careful to drain very well the artichokes and the spinach, because if they are watery, the composition will be too fluid and you’ll probably have to eat it with the spoon. That’s not what you’d wish for a festive dinner unless you don’t care about your guests. Another cooking tip: depending on how much you insist with the stirring, the dip will get a different consistency. Just stop when you feel it’s right. Serving suggestion: top the bowl with diced tomatoes, black olives and some parsley and use tortilla chips, toasted pita bread or celery sticks for dipping. For those of you who like it hot, adding some hot chili peppers could be a great idea.