Summer-time Perfect Pairing with a home-made dip and Frito Lay

Written by Carol Cain on 28 July 2011

I hardly ever make anything really fun and special during the summer months, or at least I haven’t for a long time now because living in a small apartment in NYC didn’t allow for much room for entertaining.

However, now that we have recently moved into a much larger home, I have suddenly become inspired to not only have people over (now that I can fit more than 3 in my living room), but also serve them some favorite summer treats.

Which is why I was more than up for the challenge when The Motherhood invited me to participate making a favorite dip that would go represent a perfect paring with Frito Lay chips.

Now, I really wanted to stay healthy and focus on calories, but in the end, I didn’t think so much about that as much as I thought about the fact that a good dip often is an incredible conversation piece and can easily kick off an awesome party.

So, I decided to try a spinach and artichoke dip. I had never made it before, but when it comes to dips, it is one of my absolute favorites. I like the warm cheesiness of it, as well as the taste of spinach and artichokes, to sorta make you feel like there’s at least something healthy in there!

I started out with an recipe I found on AllRecipes.com by Tiffanni Brennan, but then modified it a tad to fit my inability to prepare to follow recipes well and find all the ingredients, and the fact that I was making this, while making dinner for my family and just really to have the guys try it out first before I served it to anyone else.

So, in the end, this is the recipe by I put together:

Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) and a half package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon of chopped garlic

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

salt and pepper to taste

1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

1 packet ( ounces) of chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a small baking dish.

In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, garlic, garlic salt, mozzarella cheese, salt and pepper. Gently stir in artichoke hearts and spinach.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven 25 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned.

This is what I ended up with:

This is how my family responded to it:

I complimented the dip with two Frito Lay chip products – Tostitos Stone-Ground White Corn Crispy Round chips and Lay’s Kettle Cooked Reduced Fat Original potato chips.

Though I may hold back on hitting the dip too often myself, I can’t wait to serve it up before summer’s end to my friends at our next house party. If my family’s reaction was any indication, this dip will be a huge success!

Frito Lay has a whole section on recipes for dips and even a more simple Classic Spinach and Artichoke recipe located there as well for those of you looking for fun recipes to pump up your summer get-togethers.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post by The Motherhood and the Frito Lay brand. All opinions are strictly my own.