Spicy Spinach Artichoke Dip

My favorite recipes are often the ones that are inspired by foods that I already like. Nathan was gracious enough to be in charge of dinner last Saturday night (I was working that day, so it seems fair) and he made a delicious sort of spicy grilled cheese sandwich with Monterrey jack, jalapenos, cream cheese, and sour cream Italian bread. nomnomnom I ate three.

So on Sunday when I was trying to decide what to make two things came to my mind. 1. We now have all sorts of leftover ingredients from those sandwiches. 2. Dip.



I had a great recipe for spinach artichoke dip and I thought, I can totally make this like delicious sandwich spinach artichoke dip. So off I went! The results were pretty delicious, though there is one change that I would make in a 2nd making (which I will outline below... you have to continue reading so there!).

Spicy Spinach Artichoke Dip

Ingredients

1 8oz package cream cheese (I used reduced fat, but I wouldn't use non-fat--it doesn't seem to melt the same)
1/2 cup mayo (I used reduced fat)
1 can artichoke hearts
1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 4oz can chopped green chilies
1 tsp cayenne pepper (add more or less depending on how spicy you like it)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Dippables: I made some crostini out of the left over Italian bread from the sandwiches and also used tostitos scoops.

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350.

In a bowl, mix together the cream cheese, mayo, green chilies, cayenne, parm and mozzarella (I put the mozzarella on top... I would not do this again as it created an impenetrable mozzarella shield).

Drain the artichoke hearts and rinse (especially if they were in a brine). Squeeze each one to drain excess moisture and chop--I did quartered them and it worked well.

Microwave the spinach to defrost and squeeze out any additional moisture.

Stir the artichokes and spinach into the cheese mixture. Place in a small, greased baking dish and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes. I covered mine for the first 15 minutes and then uncovered it for the last 10.

Serve hot with dippables.

As I mentioned above, I would stir the mozzarella into the cheese mixture. The scoops could not penetrate the mozzarella and I ended up chopping it into small pieces with a spoon and stirring it in anyway. I liked the gooeyness once it had melted in, so I would still use it in the recipe.