Thursday, February 17, 2011

I invented a recipe, and it doesn't suck (Spinach Dip!)

RanchySpinachDip

Last night I finally got around to making artichoke spinach dip. Too lazy to turn on my computer, I just tried in vain to remember Bryannna Clark Grogan's recipe for spinach artichoke dip. As it turns out, I have a poor memory, but that's okay, because I really really really love this dip. Also, start freaking out, because it has NO OIL! Its not ETL due to the salt and miso, which contains salt, but other than that its SUPER healthy.

Sorry about using the 1/2 a brick of tofu, I hate it when recipes are like '1/2 bell pepper, diced', but I'm going to make lemon pepper tofu with the rest from vegan brunch, so there's an idea for your leftover tofu.

Oil Free Spinach Artichoke Dip that tastes like Ranch Dressing

1/2 brick of firm tofu (not too firm because this is already a thick recipe)
2-3 TBS unsweetened soy yogurt (silk brand- plain)
1 tsp yellow miso
1-2 tsp lemon juice
3/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
dash black pepper
3 cloves of garlic
1/2-3/4 tsp salt
4 artichoke hearts, tough leaves removed, chopped
8-10 oz frozen spinach, squeezed WELL

Firstly, into your food processor, put the tofu, yogurt, 1 tsp lemon juice, onion powder, roughly chopped garlic (yeah, if you put whole garlic cloves in your food processor, they STAY whole), salt, pepper, basically everything except the artichoke hearts and spinach. Blend until nicely smooth. Microwave the frozen spinach and squeeze out. Taste the existing dip. If you really want more lemon juice, add the second tsp. Now add about 5 oz of spinach (50% of thos 10oz frozen rectangles of spinach), and your artichoke hearts and blend until well blended. Add more spinach if the dip is too strong for your tastes.

If you scoop this up with Mary's Gone crackers, you can feel extra proud of how healthy you are. Also, its really yummy and packs a major punch of flavor.

The last time I tried to make my own 'cheezy sauce', it was pretty much a total disaster, I had to throw it out and I felt bad for wasting food, and then worse when I made some sad pasta with veganomicon's cheezy sauce which was flavorless and blah. So this recipe working out is very pleasing to me.