By Gina Grad
October 5, 2018

 

We talked football snacks with the OG #NSNG man Vinnie Tortorich today so I wanted to bring something in that would sideline the competition! I mean be a total touchdown! I mean (insert other football term that my sports announcer father would be proud of).

I found a classic yummy baked spinach and artichoke dip recipe at The Comfort of Cooking (link below) and then of course “Gina-fied it” with a few tweaks!
I added roasted shaved Brussel sprouts, sautéed onions and bacon and subbed out sour cream for full fat Greek yogurt.

http://www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2013/12/hot-cheesy-spinach-artichoke-dip.html

I’m not even gonna try to be modest here... this dip was a HIT!! Full on touchdown!! Ok...I’ll stop now.

So...How Did I Do It?
I started by frying up 6 strips of bacon (feel free to add more or less or none!)
Then, I put them to the side and used a bit of the bacon grease to sauté the onions and Brussel sprouts!

Once the onions were nice and caramelized, I threw in the shaved Brussel sprouts (they sell them in bag-form at Trader Joe’s) with a little salt and pepper to soften them up.

I wanted to dry them out / crisp them up a bit more, so I tossed the onions and sprouts into an oiled casserole dish and roasted them for about 15 minutes. Turned out great!



While the roasting was happening, I sautéed a whoooole mess o’ spinach and added minced garlic to taste and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. (This recipe recommends frozen chopped spinach so use that if you want! I just happen to have fresh spinach on hand and it worked great.)

At this point I just followed the recipe.
I combined all the cooked ingredients, along with the chopped up artichoke hearts.
Then I folded it all in with the cream cheese, shredded mozzarella, shredded Parmesan (hand-grated), full fat Greek yogurt, and a teeny bit of mayo.



Finally, I spread it all out into a casserole dish, topping it with a combo of the shredded cheese. I popped it in the oven at 400 degrees for about a half hour until the top was golden and bubbly!



Hold onto your helmets because here’s the final product...

BAM!!



But wait! What are you going to dip in it if you don’t want veggies?

The answer is...

Cheese Crisps!!

These are easy.

There are two ways to do it:

1) Pile small mounds of grated cheese on top of a parchment paper-covered cookie sheet.
Pop it in the oven (425 degrees) for about 6 minutes each or until the edges of each cheese pile is golden brown.

2) Put the small cheese mounds in a skillet and cook them that way. Same thing applies... heat until the discs are brown around the edges. You can carefully flip them over for a more even cook if you’re so inclined!

(Cheese tip: You can use any hard / medium cheese but cheddar can be a little bendy and pliable so it may need a teeny bit extra cooking. But be careful - if you look away for a second, they could start to burn! Also, Parmesan crisps up nicer. One more also...feel free to combine cheeses! Hand-grating is best!)