Recipe: Spinach and Artichoke Dip

I don't know about you, but I LOVE spinach and artichoke dip. The first time I ever had this I thought it was one of the best appetizers I'd ever had. LOL I asked my sister for her recipe for a base and then I changed it up quite a bit and I think I've gotten it perfected (at least in my opinion, hehe!). I'm not going to lie to you and tell you this dish is good for you... it's not... but it sure is tasty. Even people who don't normally like stuff like this (like my Mom) liked it! (Un)Fortunately for me, I'm the only one in our family that will eat this so I never make it unless we're going to a party or are having friends over. One of my best friends, Maureen, also loves this dip. I've made it a couple times and she wanted the recipe so I'm sharing it with you since I needed to type it up anyway! :)

A picture of this dish of bubbly deliciousness:

Ingredients:

1 package frozen spinach (thawed and drained- directions below).

1 8oz package of cream cheese

1 can of artichoke hearts, cut into smaller pieces

1/4 cup mayo

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup romano cheese (freshly grated... please)

1/4 cup of colby jack cheese, divided

1/4 cup mozzarella cheese

1 tsp lemon juice

a few turns of freshly ground pepper

1-2 tsp of garlic powder

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350F

2) Thaw and drain spinach. The best way to do this is nuke the spinach for like 3 minutes then put the thawed spinach into a mesh strainer and push/squeeze all the water out with some paper towels so that the paper towels soak up the water too. I like to think this is my secret trick to super awesome spinach artichoke dip and spinach quiche... but maybe it's not...

3) Beat the cream cheese, mayo and sour cream so it's all smooth and uniform.

4) Combine all of the ingredients except for 1/2 of the colby jack cheese and mix until uniform.
5) Spread into a 1.5 qt baking dish.
6) Sprinkle remaining colby jack cheese on top

7) Bake at 350F for ~30mins or until bubbly. :) Serve warm with pita chips (my personal favorite is Stacy's multigrain). Yum!!!!!!!!!!