Uber Creamy Spinach Artichoke Dip

Pre-vegan I had perfected an amazing spinach artichoke dip. I was craving some the other day so I decided to veganize my old recipe, the only problem I had was with substituting the romano-mozzarella-parmesan blend. I thought to myself, "NUTRITIONAL YEAST!!!!!! I HEARD THAT ADDS A CHEESY FLAVOUR!!" Yes, I literally yelled that inside my head...it was that much of a revelation, plus...I NEVER use nutritional yeast (except in scrambled tofu) so I was surprised I thought of it. Nevertheless, it added a mighty strong cheese flavour.

I would have to say that NOBODY would notice that this is vegan, it is that creamy and cheesy tasting. Go ahead, give someone the vegan-taste-taste, guarantee they won't know :)

With regards to the Sour Supreme - adding this was a last minute decision, the amount I used seemed to work great, but feel free to add less, more or I guess you could omit it altogether, but I think it adds to the creaminess factor. I just had some leftover in my fridge so I thought, why not add it in?

You need:

1 container of Tofutti plain cream cheese
1/2 cup of Tofutti plain Sour Supreme
1/2 onion, finely diced
8 oz of frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed out and chopped up
most of a 12oz can of artichoke hearts, chopped (I think I used four hearts)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp each of the following - basil, parsley, cayenne pepper, pepper and salt
olive oil
quick squeeze of fresh lemon juice

To make:

1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. Saute the onion, artichoke hearts and spinach in the olive oil for a few minutes until the onion is clear (do not brown)
3. In a hand blender mix everything else together until smooth
4. Combine the onion mixture into the cream cheese mixture and mix together with a spatula.
5. Bake in a small dish for 20 minutes until it smells delicious and the top is lightly browned.

You could serve this with veggies, crackers, bread, pita slices or nacho chips. All would be delicious.

Note the creaminess:



And, because my girls were sitting so close together on the bed I snapped a few pictures. The quality of this one is terrible, but I love how smug Alma looks and how angry Bella looks. I think it's hilarious.