Artichoke Dip: Appetizer…or Dinner?

If you've ever bothered to click on that tab up there called meet the fam. you'll know that in the list of '23 moderately useless things to know about me' I mention that I consider a french baguette and garlic butter to be a fine dinner. With a glass of chardonnay (of course). It's true. I believe gluten is of the most important food groups. 

But occasionally I'll branch out. Get a little crazy. Put something other than garlic butter on my carbs. And today I'm gonna show you how to make one of my favorites: Artichoke Dip.

You may call it an appetizer, I often call it dinner. 

I love artichoke dip. I love it hot; I love it cold. I will eat it in a box; I will eat it with a fox. 

And if you know one thing about me, you know I will not make it if it is not easy. Over the years I've tried a lot of recipes for artichoke dip, and for the past five years this one has been the winner. It originally came from a 2008 Cooking Light magazine, which I only know because the actual recipe in my recipe book is still the ripped out magazine page with a lot of scribbles and alterations I've made to it over the years. Wouldn't be an important fact in this little story if it weren't for two things: One, I read an issue of Cooking Light magazine?? And two, I'd like to go on record as formally apologizing to whatever doctor's office I apparently ripped it off from. 

With the holidays quickly approaching (anyone else put up decorations yesterday? No? Umm…me neither) you might need a quick, easy, and apparently LOW CAL recipe for an appetizer (or dinner). Since I've already written a post on my most favorite appetizer/dinner in the whole entire world (seriously, you should take the time to click on that link…it's a big hit on Pinterest) I thought I'd give you another one to impress your family with. 

So here's my version of a Cooking Light version of artichoke dip. Don't worry, the changes I made shouldn't have added any fat or calories to this otherwise healthy and LIGHT artichoke dip (which is surely what you'll find under the word oxymoron in the dictionary). 

Easy Artichoke Dip

2  garlic cloves

1 TBSP  finely chopped shallot (can use a green onion if you don't have a shallot)

1/2 C  grated Parmesan cheese, divided

1/3 C  reduced fat mayonnaise (or full fat - go crazy)

1/4 C  reduced fat cream cheese (ditto)

1 TBSP  lemon juice
1/4 TSP  red pepper flakes

1 can  artichoke hearts (I like to use the quartered ones)

Cooking spray

Baguette

Pretend that bag of cheese is PARMESAN and not mozzarella (which is all I had and actually worked out just fine).
And please ignore the years and years of hard water deposits on my mini food processor.
I promise it does get washed. 

Preheat oven to 400°.

Put the garlic cloves, shallot, 1/4 C of the parmesan, mayo, cream cheese, lemon juice and red pepper flakes into a food processor and process until almost creamy. 

True story: This dip is the only thing that I ever use my mini processor for which to me makes it worth having. But I'm sure you could use a regular old bowl and mixer. 

Whoops! Forgot the red pepper flakes. And then I accidentally added twice as much
which meant I had to drink more wine to cool the burning in my mouth…which worked out just fine in the end.
So I guess you can make the call on how much is too much. 

Add the artichokes to the creamy mixture. I cut the quarters in half - eighths if you are a fancy mathematician - before I put them in the processor.

Chop up until artichokes are minced, but not too much so they disappear. There should still be some artichoke chunks in there.

Spray a 3 cup baking dish with PAM (or grease it), spoon dip into it and cover with remaining parmesan cheese. 

Place in a preheated 400° for 20 minutes.

While the dip is cooking, slice your bread and have a glass of wine. 

When your timer goes off, turn your oven onto BROIL and leave the dip in for another 2-3 minutes so the cheese can get brown. KEEP WATCH over your dip! Do not - I repeat - DO NOT turn away and finish your glass of wine or else your artichoke dip may end up with a tough cheese skin that you'll have to peel off the top. I'm guessing.

This is what it should look like:

Very Important Part! Let dip stand for at least the time it takes for your bread slices to toast up in the oven that you still have on 'broil.' I actually prefer it to sit for 10 - 15 minutes to settle and thicken. 

And in case you thought I was kidding about eating this and this alone for dinner…

…I wasn't.

Sure, I had Husband's help, but I'm fairly certain that the amount you see missing is meant for at least 4-6 people. 

Thank goodness it's LIGHT and LOW CAL. 

Feel free to PIN any of these images, and if you make it check back in and let me know what you thought! 

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