The BEST Spinach Artichoke Dip

I have been looking for the perfect Spinach Artichoke Dip for quite some time.  Not too spinach-y, not too dry, the perfect amount of cheese and actual flavor, maybe even a bit of spice.  Well, I did what any good blogger would do and did some research.  I found that most dips have spinach (duh), artichokes (double duh), cream cheese, mayo and some sort of cheese/s.  I took all of that knowledge and threw this dip together.  

The results, well as you can read the title says The BEST Spinach Dip.  It's true.  It's the best.  Mr. Schwartz and I couldn't stop eating it.  I made it right before dinner, strange choice since I'm not fancy enough to have appetizers before dinner every night.  Mr. Schwartz couldn't help him self from inhaling it straight from the pan...like half of it.  It came down to me saying, "If I hear you crunch one more pita chip I'm going to break your legs. You need to eat a real dinner."  Yeah, I'm that wife. 

Needless to say, you need to make this dip.  I promise it lives up to it's title.   

 Start by combining cream cheese

 Sour cream

 And mayo in a medium bowl.  It helps if the cream cheese is at room temp. 

Stir it up

 Take the spinach that has been defrosted (either sitting at room temp for a while or microwaved) and plop it onto a crummy dishtowel.  Crummy because if it isn't before, it will be after.

 Take the edges of the towel and bring them together.  Squeeze all of the water out of the spinach

 Like so...

 Take a jar of marinated artichoke hearts (yum)

 And chop them up

 Melt some butter in a large skillet

 Add garlic, I was out of the fresh stuff.

 Add the artichokes and give it a good toss.

 Then add the spinach

 Toss again and cook for about two minutes

 Add the cream cheese, sour cream and mayo mixture

 Stir it up

 Add the swiss

 And parmesan cheeses.  Stir.

 Add some red pepper flakes

 Season All Salt

 And black pepper.

 Stir and pop directly in the oven for about 20 minutes or until bubbly and just turning golden brown.

 It will look like this.  Being 100% honest I had plans for this stuff but I didn't exactly like how it turned out.  Otherwise I would have added more cheese on the top.

 So if you really are serving it up as an appetizer, you may want to do it like so.  This is when I reheated it I just put it in a oven safe dish, topped with additional cheese and served it up.

 Look at that cheese.

 Gawwww…..

The BEST Spinach Artichoke Dip

8 oz block cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup mayo
12 oz jar marinated artichoke hearts
1 10 oz package frozen spinach, thawed
1 tablespoon butter
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups swiss cheese, divided
1 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (more or less depending on how spicy you want it)
1 teaspoon season all salt
a few cracks of black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the cream cheese, sour cream and mayo in a medium bowl.  It helps if the cream cheese is at room temp.

Take the spinach and place it in the middle of an old kitchen towel.  Bring the sides together and squeeze all of the water out of the spinach.  Set aside for now.

Meanwhile, drain and chop the artichokes.  Melt the butter in a large frying pan that is oven safe.  Add the garlic and sauté for about a minute or two.  Add the artichokes and spinach and cook for about 2 minutes.

Add the sour cream mixture, cheeses (keeping 1/2 of a cup of each for topping), red pepper flakes, season all salt and black pepper.  Stir to combine.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese and into the oven it goes.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until it is bubbly and cheese starts to turn golden brown.

Remove from the oven and serve with pita chips.

Enjoy!

Recipe by: Mrs. Schwartz