members recipes

Seriously guys, if you\'ve never tried spinach artichoke dip, you really should. If you love it like I do, you NEED this recipe. I got it out of one of my food network magazines where they miraculously managed to make it lower fat and more tasty. I made it for a small gathering of friends and it got demolished; I mean, there wasn\'t even a scrap left to put away. I even made the homemade corn chips with it which I\'m going to include with this. Next time you have a party, make it and let me know how long it lasts on your table. (p.s. The pic isn\'t mine. I had one but I currently can\'t find it.)

Ingredients
1 10 oz bag baby spinach, or, you can use regular spinach like I did•

1 cup packed fresh basil

3/4 cup canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

6 oz Neufchatel cream cheese

1 to 3 cloves garlic, smashed

1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1 14 oz can artichoke hearts, drained, squeezed dry and finely chopped

1/4 cup Grated Parmesan cheese

3/4 cup cup shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese

Pinch of cayenne pepper

2 or 3 dashes Worcestershire sauce

kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste (I never understood using low-sodium broth when you\'re just going to add salt anyway)

cooking spray

Optional: Baked chips for serving

Method
Preheat the oven to 450F.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and prepare a bowl of ice water.
Stir the spinach and basil into the boiling water and cook until bright green, about 30 seconds.
Remove with a slotted spoon and immediately plunge into the ice water.
Drain, squeeze dry and roughly chop.
Using a blender or a food processor, chop, then puree the beans, cream cheese, garlic and chicken broth until smooth, scraping the sides with a rubber spatula as needed. (Note, I also added a handful of chopped fresh parsley, cos I felt like it)
Transfer to a medium bowl and fold in the spinach and basil, artichokes, parmesan, 1/2 cup mozzarella.
Add the cayenne, worcstershire sauce, salt and pepper.
Mist a deep, 1 quart casserole dish with cooking spray which, I\'ll be honest, isn\'t going to help much. But not using it makes things worse.
Spread the dip mixture into the dish and top with the remaining 1/4 cup of mozzarella. I put some basil on top of this to add color, but you don\'t have to.
Bake until golden and bubbly, 20-25 minutes.
Serve warm with THESE! I made the corn chips which were cool but they had four possibilities. Check these out:
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1) Sweet Potato Chips: Thinly slice sweet potatoes (ideally with a mandoline) Toss with rosemary and salt, then bake on an oiled baking sheet at 275F until crisp, 25 minutes.
2) Corn Chips: Brush white corn tortillas with olive oil and cut into wedges. Season with salt and chili powder and bake at 350 until golden, 12 minutes. (Notes: you\'ll have to turn them over, but you can make them ahead of time because they don\'t get soggy)
3) Pita Chips: Split open pita pockets, then cut into wedges. Mist with cooking spray, sprinkle with paprika, cumin and salt, and bake at 400F for 10 minutes.
4) Mushroom Chips: Toss Shitake mushroom caps with a little olive oil, bake in a single layer at 275F until dry and crisp, 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Wow, what? An hour and 15 minutes? Screw that noise, I don\'t think anybody likes shitake mushrooms THAT much.