Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Creamy Spinach-Artichoke Dip

(Please excuse the horrible pic.)


So yay! I made a really good spinach-artichoke dip for the Oscars on Sunday, and it was super-easy but super-decadent. I was inspired by the Don't Eat Off the Sidewalk recipe but ended up fattening it way the hell up ('cause I'm sorry, but that's the nature of spinach-artichoke dip--it ain't TRULY spinach artichoke dip if you don't feel concerned that it could give you a heart attack).

Anyways, it turned out really fricking well. You would never guess that there's a whole can of beans in there, and they do a nice job of balancing out the cream-cheezy flavor so it's not overpowering.

My brother (who loves spinach-artichoke dip) said, and I quote: "Wow. You wouldn't guess this is vegan. It tastes even better than the TGI Friday's spinach-artichoke dip from the grocery store!" Which I THINK was a compliment.

But yeah: I haven't had spinach-artichoke dip in years and years, and I fricking LOVED it. Thankfully I was pretty full from dinner, otherwise I probably could've easily plowed through half of this.

Oh, and I accidentally baked it at 0-degrees for 20 minutes because my mom's stove is confusing. But you may wanna skip that step. ; )

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 small can Great Northern beans, drained

  • 1 T. olive oil

  • 1 small onion, diced

  • 4 cloves garlic, minced

  • 4 c. fresh spinach, shredded into small pieces

  • 1 14.5-oz can artichoke hearts (quartered or whole is fine), roughly chopped

  • 1 tub vegan cream cheez

  • 1/4 c. panko bread crumbs

  • 1-2 T. nutritional yeast

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400-F.

Heat the olive oil on medium in a pan. Add onion and cook until nearly translucent. Add garlic and cook one minute more. Toss in your spinach and cook until wilted (2-3 minutes). Remove from heat.

Toss your drained beans into a food processor. Blend until smooth.

Empty the tub of vegan cream cheez into a casserole dish. Add blended beans and mix until well-combined.

Add artichoke hearts, spinach-mix, panko, and nooch.

Cover with lid or foil and cook about 20 minutes.

Remove lid/foil and cook for 10 or 15 minutes more, until a little browned and heated through.

Serve with chips or whatever other dippables you like.

Serves 4-ish or so

8 comments:

Zura said...

Yum! Tried this for the Superbowl party and its so good! Blended the beans with the cream cheese and added some organic seasoned salt and juice of a lime! Really yummy!

Stephanie said...

This is the bomb! I used some tofu in the bean mix the second time I made it and it still came out good. Bravo!

PS: I read your posts on Guerrilla Gardening and am going to try it outside our apartment. Nothing says "stick it to the man" like flowers.

Simply "T" said...

So, I just found this recipe and made it tonight for a superbowl pre-trial... amazing! I used to be obsessed with the TGIFridays version in college before I was vegan, and this was so delicious I don't even miss the other stuff! Good work!

Shanell said...

I want to make this but I have a question about the panko. Do you stir it in with everything else or leave it on top?

Lindy Loo said...

Good question. I'm pretty certain I stirred it in, but even if you just put it on top, it should be fine. Will likely end up getting mixed in slightly anyways cuz of dipping and stuff. Enjoy!

Shanell said...

This was divine. I left the panko and nooch on the top and added a litle bit of vegan mayo and sour cream because I didn't have a full package of tofutti. It was great!

Anonymous said...

This stuff is the BOMB!! Made it for NYE. No one guessed it was vegan.

Lindy Loo said...

Yay! Awesome!