{"id":8882,"date":"2013-02-04T00:30:34","date_gmt":"2013-02-04T05:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=8882"},"modified":"2013-02-04T00:38:45","modified_gmt":"2013-02-04T05:38:45","slug":"at-home-with-gch-dips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/02\/04\/at-home-with-gch-dips\/","title":{"rendered":"At Home with GCH – Dips!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here on our At Home with GCH<\/i>\u00a0 blog, Monday\u2019s are always focused on healthy but oh-so-yummy!<\/i> recipes. This month we are going to do a series of looks at appetizers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I am here to confess: I love appetizers!\u00a0 Whether you call them tapas, small bites, hors d\u2019ouerves, antipasto, or simply appetizers; no matter what you call \u2018em…I like \u2018em!\u00a0 My favorite type of casual get-together has appetizers as the food component.\u00a0 Oftentimes, when hubby and I go out to eat I prefer a couple of appetizers over almost anything else offered on the menu.\u00a0 So that\u2019s me!\u00a0 I would love for you to leave a comment below sharing with us YOUR favorite appetizer<\/strong>(s).<\/p>\n

Now this week we are going to be making dip<\/strong><\/em>s: two very different ones\u2014one is chilled and one is warm! The first is homemade Lemon PineNut Hummus<\/em>.\u00a0 And our second recipe is for Spinach Artichoke Dip<\/em>.\u00a0 Remember we always endeavor to make our recipes as healthy as we can but keeping them oh-so-yummy.\u00a0 The Lemon PineNut Hummus<\/em> is relatively naturally healthy with chickpeas as the main protein.\u00a0 Now the Spinach Artichoke Dip<\/em> is notorious for being incredibly high in calories (mostly fat calories).\u00a0 You will notice as you peruse the recipe that we have reduced the fat by using less cheese (but still enough; you\u2019ll see!), and choosing Greek yogurt in place of most of the mayonnaise.<\/p>\n

Lemony PineNut Hummus <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"2013-02-03<\/a><\/p>\n

I toasted the pine nuts in a small skillet for 3 minutes before adding them to the food processor. The pine nuts give the hummus a rich, sweet flavor that is oh-so-yummy!<\/p>\n

1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
\n1 heaping Tablespoon\u00a0chopped garlic (I use jarred)
\n1\/4 cup filtered water<\/p>\n

\u00be cup pine nuts, lightly toasted (reserve 1\/4 cup for garnish)
\n2 tablespoons of tahini
\njuice of 1 small lemon (try Mayer lemons, if you can find them)
\n1\/4 cup unflavored Greek yogurt
\n2 tablespoons olive oil
\npinch EACH of tarragon, thyme
\ndash of crushed red pepper (optional)
\n1 teaspoon salt, freshly ground black pepper
\n1 teaspoon dried parsley (plus more for garnish<\/p>\n

In a food processor, blend the chickpeas, garlic, and water. Add \u00bd cup of the pine nuts.\u00a0 Blend until very smooth.\u00a0 Add tahini, lemon juice, yogurt, olive oil, herbs, and salt until the ingredients come together into a paste-like consistency.\u00a0 Pour into a 2 cup serving bowl; garnish with any remaining parsley and 1\/4 cup pine nuts.\u00a0 Cover and refrigerate about an hour.\u00a0 Serve with fresh veggies (carrot sticks, sliced red and yellow peppers, cucumber rounds, sliced radishes) and Pita’s (nice if toasted), or flatbread.<\/p>\n

Warm Spinach Artichoke Dip<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"2013-02-03<\/a><\/p>\n

2 (8.5 ounce) cans artichoke hearts packed in water (drained)
\n1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach (thawed and squeezed dry)
\n1\/4 cup Vidalia onions, chopped
\n2 heaping tablespoons chopped garlic (I use jarred)
\n8 ounces unflavored Greek yogurt
\n\u00bd cup mayonnaise
\n4 ounces part-skim shredded Mozzarella cheese, reserve
\n6 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese\u00a0\u00a0 Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper<\/p>\n

Remove chopped spinach from package, place in sieve or colander, and rinse gently with cold water, breaking up into chunks.\u00a0 Let it defrost completely and then squeeze dry with your hands. (I try to remember to do this step earlier in the day.)<\/p>\n

Preheat oven to 375.\u00a0 Lightly grease or use olive oil cooking spray on a 1+1\/2 – 2 quart baking dish; set aside.<\/p>\n

In a food processor, coarsely chop the artichokes along with the garlic and onions.\u00a0 Add the dry spinach, yogurt and mayonnaise. Pulse a few times until all is incorporated together.\u00a0 Pour into ovenproof bowl or baker, and stir in cheeses, salt, and pepper.\u00a0 Sprinkle top with a pinch or two of additional cheese.\u00a0 Bake for 20-25 minutes until hot and cheeses are melted.*\u00a0 Serve immediately.\u00a0 We like cubed pumpernickel bread or Italian\/French bread cut on the diagonal into thin slices; or thin crispy chips (tortilla are great); or carrot sticks.<\/p>\n

* You can also heat the dip in a small crockpot for 2-3 hours on low; just be sure it is hot and the cheeses are melted.<\/p>\n

God loves you!<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 \u2665\u00a0 (Don\u2019t ever forget that!)<\/p>\n

\u2665\u00a0 coleen<\/p>\n

_________________________________<\/p>\n

If you would like to send a personal message to Coleen concerning this series, you may email her at: Coleen@girlfriendscoffeehour.com<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here on our At Home with GCH\u00a0 blog, Monday\u2019s are always focused on healthy but oh-so-yummy! recipes. This month we are going to do a series of looks at appetizers. I am here to confess: I love appetizers!\u00a0 Whether you call them tapas, small bites, hors d\u2019ouerves, antipasto, or simply appetizers; no matter what you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":8884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[1648,9296,235,1649,425,483,1651,1652,1650],"class_list":["post-8882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-at-home-with-gch","tag-appetizers","tag-at-home-with-gch","tag-coleen-hayden","tag-dips","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-healthy-but-oh-so-yummy","tag-hummus","tag-pine-nuts","tag-spinach-artichoke-dip","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/2013-02-03-18.50.00.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-2jg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8882"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8893,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8882\/revisions\/8893"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}