Joy's spinach dip

(This is nothing more than a little RecipeNote to myself, to keep track of a recipe that I liked and plan to make again.)

Joy's spinach dip

1 can of Ro-tel*, undrained
10 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
8 ounces of cream cheese, softened
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack or Monterey Jack cheddar (Joy prefers cheddar)
1/3 cup onion, diced
¼ cup whipping cream

If it gets any easier than this, I don't know how it's possible. Combine all ingredients, mix to combine, and place in a baking dish. (Something around the size of a pie pan worked well for us.) Bake for 30 minutes at 350°. Serve with lots of tortilla chips.

Some thoughts: we accidentally forgot to put in the cream, and it worked rather well without it, though I might've added a bit more cheese to compensate. It might also be good with a bit of spice kick added; I liked how the dip was a combination of smooth cheese and chunky vegetable bits, but I found myself wondering how it would taste with a couple of dashes of red pepper added. Cayenne would add a clean heat, but others (ground chipotle, etc.) might add a bit of smokiness that could be interesting.

Either way, it was yummy, and when I walked in from the kitchen the other night, I could barely see the pan the dip was in for all the geeks clustered around it, chowing down. As far as I'm concerned, that's the best way I know to determine if I should hang on to a recipe.

Expect this to reappear at the next geek gathering…

* I should note that Ro-tel seems to be a Southern US product. Down here, it's extremely easy to find, and is practically a required ingredient in most chip-and-dip combinations down here. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Ro-tel contains a combination of diced tomatoes, peppers, and probably a few other things like onions. Down here, it's nearly impossible to make any kind of chips and dip without it.

all tags: 
food
recipe

Comments

On , gfmorris said...
This recipe kicks serious boo-tay. I might add Tabasco, but then I am my father's son.

On , domesticat said...
That's along the same lines, really. It just seems like the one thing that might make this recipe better would be a bit of a spice kick. I bet Tabasco would do the trick quite nicely. I still want to know what people who don't have access to Ro-Tel use to make cheese dip....what a deprivation!

On , gfmorris said...
I would imagine that some form of salsa is used. I actually tend to do salsa con queso more than Ro-Tel based stuff. Just me, though.

On , Ellen said...
canned diced green chilies and canned diced tomatoes w/some onion will work if you can't find ro-tel....Ahhh ro-tel, just another one of the many things my southern husband introduced me to... Glad we have it here in VA.

On , jowilson said...
Oh, there are products that have tomatoes, green chilis and onions in them. But I'll keep my eye open for it around here -- you'd be surprised what kinds of specialty foods you can find in Minneapolis if you look hard enough. :)

On , jowilson said...
Heh. They sell it at the grocery store five minutes from my house. So if you ever get the hankering to come up here to Minnesota and make chips and dip, you're more than welcome. You can see the new loft that I built in my mom's living room that she doesn't know about yet.