I joined a new cooking challenge group called Eating the Alphabet. Each month we make a recipe featuring a fruit, vegetable, or bean/legume from a different set of letters. This month’s letters are K & L. Kale or Lemon was the first thing that popped into my mind. I asked my son and he gave me all sorts of K’s and L’s, and it’s funny I can’t even recall what they were now, but it was great fun thinking of them.
In the end, I went with Lemon because, well, lemon is so lovely and I needed a good dip for my Blog-iversary party last night. I think artichokes and lemons go splendidly together, and after making and sampling this creamy dip, well, I had a hard time saving it for the party. I had to hide it from myself in the back of the fridge and wait till the day of the party for the photo shoot. The lemon flavor really shines through and compliments the artichoke really well.
I lightened up the recipe by using light cream cheese, light mayo, and nonfat greek yogurt and adjusting the proportions–I also added a bunch of sweet onions and some herbs for extra flavor. I don’t think you’ll miss the extra calories.
Creamy Lemon Artichoke Dip
Adapted from WebMD. WebMD says to bake it and serve it hot, but it was so hot last night, I decided to just serve it cold. It’s delicious either way.
- 1 – 14.75 jar of marinated artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped
- About 2 Tablespoons of the marinade from the artichokes
- 1 medium sweet onion, chopped (about 1 heaping cup)
- 4 small cloves of garlic, peeled & chopped
- 8 oz. light cream cheese
- 1/2 cup plain nonfat greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup light mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons gourmet prepared mustard (I used green peppercorn garlic, but dijon would be good too)
- 1 teaspoon wortcestershire sauce
- 2/3 cup (very loose) finely shredded Dubliner cheese (or other sharp cheese such as Asiago)
- a few sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 Tablespoon fresh oregano leaves, chopped fine
- The zest & juice of 1/2 of a fresh lemon
- 1 teaspoon sriracha sauce
Directions:
- Drain the artichoke hearts, reserving the marinade. Spray a frying pan with cooking spray and heat to medium. Add the onions and garlic and sautee just briefly, then add a couple tablespoons of the marinade and cook until the juice from the marinade has evaporated and the onions are soft and translucent.
- Mix the hot onions with the cream cheese until well blended. (The heat soften the cream cheese and make it easier to mix.)
- Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix well. At this point you can cover and store it in the fridge till serving time. It
- If you want to serve it hot, put it in a square baking dish or pie pan and bake at 400 for about 20 minutes or until it’s hot and bubbly. If it’s too hot to turn the oven on, this dip is great cold, too. (Admittedly, though, it IS better warm!)
- Serve with pita chips … or slice up a baguette into thin slices and toast them.
This post was created for the Eating the Alphabet Challenge.
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This recipe was also shared at Katherine Martinelli’s Skinny Bloghop, Everyday Mom’s Meals, Scrumptious Sunday and Manic Monday.
7 comments
What an interesting take on artichoke dip! Lemon and artichokes are a natural flavor combination so this must be awesome!
Oh, that sounds delicious! And it looks like I have all the ingredients on hand if I use red onion for sweet — do you think that would make a big difference? I make a hot crab and artichoke dip at Christmas which is totally yummy so a cold lemony variant for the summer is very welcome.
Lynn I think red onion would work well in this dip! The sautee-ing would remove the sharpness from the onion and I think the color would be lovely.
Mmmm Lemon and Artichoke. Two of my favorites. Love it! Could eat a whole bowl for lunch! Thanks for sharing at Church Supper. Have a blessed week & come back soon.
Ann, this sounds wonderful, love that you served it cold, makes it perfect for a hot summer day!
Thanks so much Joan! I tried this dip hot too and it is better hot, but it’s nice to serve a cold dip when it’s so terribly hot outside that the A/C can’t even keep up 🙂
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