Super Bowl Food: Chili and Dip

Spinach Artichoke Dip

If there is one main theme of my blog, it would be that tasty food can pretty much always be pulled together without a special trip to the store.

On that note; I promised game day food this week and I shall deliver. However, Trader Joes were all out of sundried tomatoes (very rarely will I write anything negative about that store) so slight change of plan. I am serving spinach artichoke dip instead of the artichoke sundried tomato spread.

I love the concept of the flavors in spinach artichoke dip, but the traditional recipes are just too heavy and fat laden for me to enjoy. I've been making this version for a few years; Ellie Kreiger from the Food Network provided the base recipe; I usually like her approach to healthier eating.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/warm-spinach-and-artichoke-dip-recipe/index.html

However, it did need a little more cheese, greek yogurt and a touch of nutmeg to make it feel a bit less "healthy". It's a fine balance, after all it's still gotta taste good!

My other offering for today's Game Day planning is Chili. It's largely based on one of Jamie Oliver's versions that pulled of the Food network site years ago; the recipe is no longer listed. Anyway, I added a few more veggies, less chili pepper and I used ground turkey this time. The original uses ground chuck.

I always get asked about the chili when someone else tastes it and I think it's due to unusual ingredients and method; it's got a cinnamon stick and sundried tomatoes in it and he recommends you cut up your veggies etc in the food processor. Altogether this gives a smoother texture, which I like and an interesting depth of flavor. I also added more veggies and wine; notice the theme? I believe one cancels the other out, but it's a step in the right direction!

The Chili is freezable for about 3 months; I usually make a double batch (see photo) and feeze in family sized portions.

Spinach and Artichoke dip



My 2 year old digging in

This yields a lot; enough for 10-12

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped or minced
1 (9 oz/ 255g) package of frozen artichokes, defrosted
1 (10 oz/ 283g) package of frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed of excess liquid
1 cup/ 250ml reduced fat or non fat sour cream or greek yogurt
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 cup/ 4 oz/ 115g reduced fat cream cheese
4 oz/ 115g shredded/ grated part skim mozzarella (or whatever good melting cheese you have)
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg


Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F/ 190°C
2. Saute the onions, over a medium heat, for approx 4-5 mins. Add the garlic and cook for a further 3-4 mins.
3. While the onions are cooling, put the remaining ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Add the onions and pulse a further 4-5 times to mix.
4. Transfer to a lightly greased baking dish (I used 4 large ramekins, or you could use one large 8" square baking dish)
5. Bake for 15/20 mins until heated through but not browning on top.

This is delicious served with pita chips, or carrot sticks.

Enjoy!



Kat's Chili

Serves 6

Ingredients

2 medium onions

2 garlic cloves

olive oil

1/2 lb/ 225g carrots (washed not peeled)

2 teasponns chili powder

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

sea salt and pepper

1 lb/ 455 g ground chuck (I used ground turkey this time)

7 oz/ 200g sundried tomatoes in olive oil

1 fresh red chile, deseeded (optional, swap in milder chile or omit)

2 (14oz/ 400g ) cans chopped tomatoes

1/2 cinnamon stick

1 glass red wine

2 (14oz/ 400g) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed well

Directions

1. Place the onions and garlic and carrots in the food processor and chop.
2. Using a deep heavy pan or dutch oven, fry up the onions, garlic and carrots in some olive oil until softened.
3. Stir in the chili powder and cumin and cook for a further 2 mins.
4. Add the meat and break up well. Cook until lightly browned
5. Food process the sundried tomatoes (without the oil) and chile and add to the pan
6. Add the tomatoes, cinnamon stick and wine.
7. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 1 hour before adding the beans.
8. Simmer for a further 1/2 hour then allow to sit and develop more flavor.
9. Test and season as necessary at the end; depending on your tomatoes and beans, there may already be enough salt without adding more.

Enjoy with the usual toppings, rice, cornbread, tacos etc etc etc!

A great midweek dish



I'm always in search of the next good "one pot meal" recipe to add to my repertoire. One of my cooking goals at this stage in my children's life, is to be able to scoop out a spoonful of a dish I've created from real food, that checks most or all of the right boxes nutritionally for them.

But I love one pot meals for more reasons than that. Usually they can be made a little ahead of time; in fact they are often a little tastier, having sat a while, snuggled together in a pot, blending together their flavors deliciously. Making dinner a little earlier in the day suits my lifestyle; the "down time" in my day is usually after lunch at some point. If I'm lucky, one kid might nap and the other usually will be content with some sort of quiet activity for an hour or so. This is my time to rustle something up for dinner or at the very least prep.

I also love they way you can hide or at the very least disguise foods in a 1 pot meal; foods that might otherwise be given the screwed up face. My children have different palates; historically, one would eat fruit and most vegetables easily, but does not much like meat, nuts, beans and eggs. The other was the exact opposite. Now, thanks to the one pot meal strategy, I've sucessfully introduced a variety of new foods to both
Anyway, I was lacking inspiration for last night's dinner, other than I really wanted a very healthy meal. When dinner challenged, typically I will throw a couple of ingredients into one of my favorite food sites and search. Thank God for the smart phone. Thanks also to Heidi at "101 cookbooks", I found a great starting point.

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/spinach-rice-gratin-recipe.html

She basically combined eggs, spinach, rice and cheese and baked. So easy and incredibly versatile for a tasty but healthy dinner. I used it as a springboard, added feta instead of tofu (much as I strive to eat healthy, I just cant get excited about tofu), a few other flavors and it was a big hit with the kids and my husband, for that matter. All had seconds. Nuff said.

Spinach and Rice Gratin (my way)

Serves 4-6

Ingredients



5 cups precooked brown rice

1 16 oz bag of frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed out

8 oz light feta cheese, chopped or crumbled into small pieces

20 olives (your choice, I used kalamata), chopped

1/2 medium red onion, chopped finely

1/2 cup toasted pinenuts or almonds

1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese (substitute and good melter)

6 large eggs, beaten

salt and pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C
2. Grease two 2 quart size (approx) baking dishes or 1 large lasagna dish
3. Reserve half the cheese and pinenuts
4. Mix together all the remaining ingredients
5. Put the mixture in the dishes and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.
6. Place the dishes in the center of the oven and bake for 30 mins, until the top is golden.
7. Sprinkle the remaining pinenuts on top and serve with a green salad or tomato salad.

I have a million thoughts on variation on this but you can start with these

• precook pancetta or bacon and add
• chopped sundried tomatoes would be lovely
• raisins or cranberries or even chopped apricots would give a nice sweetness against the salty feta and olives
• fresh herbs...parsley, basil or chives would be particularly nice

Go for it!