Creamy Spinach and Parmesan Dip

When I was 14, we lived in Malaysia, and we had some Australian friends there, whose mum had a specialty dish of spinach dip inside a loaf of bread.  It was the most amazing dip ever.  She brought it to all the BBQs and events, and we all ate it many, many times.  Ever since, I've been enamoured with the idea of spinach dip, and I've kept an eye out for recipes.  

With my recent desire to do more in the kitchen, and then stumbling across a really EASY recipe for spinach dip, I thought I'd give it a go.  This recipe is not served in a loaf of bread however, nor is it served hot (like some other variations).  But I think you can forgive these things for the simplicity of the recipe, and how amazing it tastes.

I must confess, I didn't exactly follow the recipe (I never do, I'm not too OCD about having exact quantities - it's more fun to not be too strict haha) because we don't (and never, ever do!) have scallions.  I don't even know what they are really.  Like some sort of spring onion?  I'm not sure, but anyway, I just replaced scallions in the original recipe with finely diced red onion, and it's beautiful.  You wouldn't know it wasn't supposed to be there.  ;)  The other bonus, is that this recipe is the lightest version I could find, so you won't even feel guilty eating it!  WIN!

Makes about 2 cups of dip.

INGREDIENTS

10oz frozen, chopped spinach (thawed, and excess liquid squeezed out) [10oz = about 1 & 1/4 cup]

1/2 cup light sour cream

5 tbsp light mayonnaise

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 a red onion, finely diced

fresh pepper, to taste (I didn't use any to be honest haha)

METHOD

• Microwave the frozen spinach to thaw (about 1 min - don't cook it) and drain, squeezing out as much liquid as possible (best way I found was in a sieve, with my bare hands - good stress relief!)
• Combine all the ingredients together in a medium bowl, mix well.  DONE!

Pre-spinach being added

Can be made one day in advance and stored in the refrigerator.  The original recipe says to remove from the fridge 30min before serving, but I like it cold straight from the fridge.  Up to you!   It's amazing with water crackers, or bread sticks.

Recipe Inspiration: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/12/creamy-parmesan-spinach-dip.html

Ambrosia

I love ambrosia.  Everyone has their own versions and recipes for ambrosia.  This is just a "recipe" I made up myself, because it's super easy, and I love berries and fruits and of course, DESSERT!  Who doesn't love dessert?  Really!  And so with these ingredients, you can eat dessert, satisfy your sweet tooth and not grow 3 dress sizes!!!  It's win-win!

It's perfect if you're asked to take a dessert to someones house, and it's not heavy, nor does it require tonnes of work.  Of course, it's open to interpretation and variations, but here's my version.  Sadly it doesn't photograph prettily, and I'm not really into food presentation (give me time, I might develop a knack for it ;) ) but yeah, I wanted to write about this because I love it so much, it's so simple, and it's one of my fave things to make! :)

Serves about 6 or 8, depending on how much fruit you put in.

INGREDIENTS

1kg pot of natural yoghurt (you can also use flavoured, but I prefer au naturel)

blueberries (rinsed, and manky ones discarded!)

strawberries (rinsed, diced)

marshmallows (pink and white - mini ones, or just chop up the big ones)

chocolate chips

METHOD

Chuck it all in a bowl together, and mix gently (to avoid bruising fruit).  

I had mine with a meringue and a cherry on the side... Om nom nom

I've left the quantities of each blank, simply because it is up to you what "yoghurt : fruit : other" ratio you want, and how much you have in your cupboard.


Voila.  SO easy.  Of course, you can add ANY fruit at all that you want!  We just had blueberries and strawberries in excess on hand, so we used up a whole bunch of them (about 250gm of blueberries... not sure how many strawberries...).  Some other fruit could be boysenberries (even out of a can), banana, nectarines, peaches, apricots... there are no limits!

We even had ambrosia left over (I know... left over dessert - how is that even possible?!) which I *almost* ate for breakfast! 

Summer Fruit

This isn't a cooking post.  But I feel compelled to write a post about summer fruit.

The reason for this?  I went to a fair today, and they had the most AMAZING cherries.  I'm not kidding.  I've never seen cherries like this.  

Me and My Box

I ate SO many my fingers got stained!

 

Normally we buy cherries over Christmas as a special treat, and this year the crop was pathetic.  They were small, not very sweet or juicy.  I was incredibly disappointed, and we didn't buy them because they were also expensive.

But today at the fair, I saw cherries like I've never seen before.  I tried one, went to heaven and back, and ended up buying a big box.  I initially just thought "Oh, I'll get a bag, that'll be enough."  Turns out the box was only $3 more than the bag, and you got 1.2kg (approx) of cherries for $17.  I was like "Dammit.  Give me a box then!".  I'm greedier than I thought, it turns out!  But look at the photos below... how could I say no?!

So, I'm very happy with my NZ$17 of cherries from Central Otago (South Island of New Zealand) and I shared them with my family and friends that I was at the fair with!

We also found a stall selling blueberries and strawberries, 1 of each punnet for NZ$20 total.  Delicious.  Blueberries are something I have been craving while ill, so I've been eating them every chance I can get.  They are so good for you, easy to snack on, put in smoothies, or bake into muffins.  They are also full of amazing anti-oxidants, which I figure will help me recover, and are healthy!  WIN!

So Dad bought some.  Yay!  He also got strawberries, which are delicious too, but I struggle to eat them raw and alone because the acidity can hurt my tongue, so I tend to eat them with icing sugar.  However, that's not the healthiest choice, but I've found that eating them with low-fat yoghurt instead also stops the acid hurting my tongue.  :)

So YAY for summer fruits!  I am so happy with our purchases today!  I hope you take advantage of seasonal fruit wherever you live too!!