Heidi's Spinach Artichoke Dip

I've been waiting for a chance to make this dip since I saw it earlier this year...unfortunately having people over is not something that happened often in our last little apartment! I finally got a chance to break out the recipe this past weekend & I was more than pleased. I added some spinach to the recipe, of course forgetting to wait until after I'd blended the other ingredients, so I ended up with something that looked like ectoplasm. It still tasted delicious, & since I completely forgot to take pictures, today's recipe is sans illustration, which might be a good thing. ;) Check out Heidi's website for some delicious looking photos instead!

Baked Spinach Artichoke Dip
adapted from 101 Cookbooks

1 12-ounce bag of frozen artichokes (mine were Trader Joe's brand...you can use canned too)
3 cups baby spinach, chopped
3 ounces silken tofu
3 large garlic cloves
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/8 tsp freshly ground sea salt
pinch of cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. In a blender or food processor puree the artichokes, tofu, and garlic. In a separate medium bowl whisk together the spinach, parmesan cheese, yogurt, salt, and cayenne. Stir in the artichoke puree and pour mixture into a medium-sized baking dish (or multiple smaller dishes). Sprinkle the top with more Parmesan. Bake uncovered until heated through and the cheese on the top starts to brown, about 45 minutes.

Now, I have a big block of silken tofu left over, & unfortunately I have no idea what to do with it. I don't want it to go to waste, so...what can I do with silken tofu? I don't like it in smoothies, but other than that I've never really had it. Any ideas? I trust your foodie brains more than my own!



Ok. One picture. Because, really, is a post a post without any photos?

Lately I have been making these every night for a snack. It feels healthy. :)

Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter "Milkshakes"

1 frozen banana
1 cup cold chocolate milk
1 Tbsp peanut butter

Throw in blender & blend!

(The guinness glass purchased by Tim's mom at a yard sale is optional!)

Amano Chocolate

I am so late on this post. Honestly, in all the packing & unpacking I had completely forgotten about this amazing chocolate. I actually did such an amazing job forgetting about it that I went to Trader Joe's on an emergency dark chocolate run & had consumed 1/2 the bar before it occurred to me that I already had plenty of chocolate...(wait, can you ever really have too much chocolate?)

I put off eating the chocolate at first because I wanted to make something delicious with it. The first bar I opened was Cuyagua (70% cacao minimum. I made sure to reserve a few squares of the bar for taste testing of course. The rest of the bar was made into brownies (with coconut & hazelnuts if I remember correctly) & those were well-received. I also allowed the bf & mother-in-law-ish to taste some of the real chocolate, & they couldn't stop saying how good it was.

The second bar (Madagascar) I used to make a delicious frosting for my orange-chocolate chunk cake...basically it was just the bar of chocolate melted & some oj mixed with cocoa powder...oh & a little bit of confectioner's sugar. Don't even get me started on the exact measurements, that frosting was a catastrophe of ingredients thrown together. In the end though, the flavor of the frosting was amazing, probably mostly due to the delicious Amano chocolate.

And the third bar? Yes, that's still waiting, quietly, to be eaten in a moment of indulgence. :) It's called Ocumare & it's supposed to have fruity & floral notes! Yum!

Back in Business!

This weekend, I baked for the first time in...I don't know...2 months? More? I've been anxious to make my way back into the kitchen, but every time I walk in, I'm reminded of what a mess it is. I finally sucked it up & decided to make Tim a delicious dessert for when he returned from work...where he is EVERY DAY ALL WEEK only to return to me on the weekends. Boo.

On the plus side, in case anyone decides to attack, he reminds me every time he leaves that there's a metal bat next to the couch "in case I need it". :)

So I know I've missed so many food blog recipes on my hiatus, but I decided to go with a fairly recent post by Bake or Break to guide me back into the game. I was looking for something very chocolately, and this chocolate cobbler fit the bill. However, with all the eating out we had been doing, lately I'm trying to make sure to stay with healthy, natural ingredients, and so I tweaked the (probably much more delicious!) recipe a bit. For a while now, I've been baking decadently because I know that's what everyone enjoys...but in truth, I really prefer to try to use less indulgent ingredients to make dishes that taste (imho) quite delicious. Here's my recipe, with another link to the original.

"Healthy" Chocolate Cobbler
modified from Bake or Break

1 cup sugar, divided in 1/2
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 cup white whole wheat flour
7 Tbsp cocoa, divided into 3 & 4 Tbsp
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
1 very ripe banana, mashed
1 1/2 cups hot water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Stir together 1/2 cup sugar, flour, 3 Tbsp cocoa, baking powder & salt.

Stir in yogurt, banana & vanilla until smooth.

In small bowl, mix 1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar & 4 Tbsp cocoa. Sprinkle evenly over batter. Pour hot water over top. Do not stir.

Bake in oven for about 35 minutes...there will be a sort of chocolate sauce that remains on the bottom of the dish, so there's no need to bake until all liquid is gone.


As stated in the original recipe, this dish is so simple. Honestly, I accidentally poured some of the water into the cocoa mixture, then quickly poured that on top of the batter, then just poured the rest of the hot water on top. Still worked!

And, again, as stated in the original post, definitely best served with ice cream! Yum! (Ok, really you'll have to make it yourself to understand how delicious it is with ice cream...the lack of light when I took the picture created a picture that's definitely NOT worth a thousand words.)

Enjoy!