Recipe: Savory Spinach Dip
If you’ve been following my September series of appetizers (perfect for your football tailgate party!) then you’ve seen me swap a ton of high fat ingredients for more slimming ingredients. That’s how you ditch the calories and keep the taste when preparing your favorite treats. But this one I’m making exactly as it was written because this Savory Spinach Dip is taken straight from our Professional Weight Management Cookbook. The cookbook was printed years ago but there are still some remaining in stock and for sale, so if you don’t have your own then ask about it next time you’re at the Springfield or Branson clinic.
This recipe is the fifth in our September series (see our Faux Potato Salad here , our Low Cal Mock Potato Skins here, our Garlic Parm Chicken Wings here and our Italian Turkey Stuffed Mushrooms here). As always, feel free to skip directly to the recipe below or just keep reading to get a few tips on preparing it.
First, the ingredients—several packages of frozen spinach, a can of water chestnuts, reduced fat sour cream, fat free yogurt, a bunch of green onions, tarragon, ground mustard, a garlic clove, and salt & pepper. Plus whatever you want to dip into the dip.
Pro Tip: After the late summer heat my fresh tarragon had withered away to nothing more than dry twigs, so I used dried tarragon. Use fresh if you have it. You’ll need 2 teaspoons of chopped fresh tarragon instead of the 1/2 teaspoon dried.
First things first, so remember to set out your frozen spinach hours before you want to start on your dip. You’ll want the spinach completely thawed in order to squeeze all the moisture from it. I thawed mine in a sieve so it could drain as it thawed, then wrapped it in paper towels as I squeezed in order to speed up the process. Remove as much water from the spinach as you can so your dip turns out rich and creamy.
While your spinach is thawing, start your mixture by draining and finely chopping the water chestnuts. Next trim the ends from the green onions and finely chop. You should have about one cup of green onions. Toss the chestnuts and onion into a big bowl and add your sour cream, yogurt, tarragon, mustard, salt and pepper. Next crush your garlic clove and add that to your mixture. Then stir well. And I mean really well, as you want the flavors evenly distributed through your sour cream/yogurt mixture.
Pro Tip: A garlic press makes the job of crushing your garlic clove fast and easy. If you don’t have a garlic press, use a wide blade knife to press hard against the clove. Once smashed, it will be easy to remove the clove skin but you’ll still need to finely mince the garlic. Thank heavens for garlic presses.
Once your mixture is well blended, it will look like this:
Next add your spinach to the mixture and stir well.
Cover your mixture bowl and set it in the refrigerator for at least one hour to chill. While the fridge is doing its job, chop your veggies. I used cucumbers and carrots, both of which complemented the flavors of the dip perfectly. Feel free to snack on your chopped veggies as a no-guilt treat while you wait.
Pro Tip: You can also use Professional Weight Management high-protein chips with this dip. Delicious.
Lastly, arrange your veggies around the dip and serve. Confession time—I’m personally not a fan of sour cream but this recipe has so many flavors balancing the “sour” that I can vouch that it’s a winner. Let us know what you think of it in the comments!
