Whitney's Dip Madness

This week's recipes come from the episode Dip Madness and gives four options: Guacamole, Hot Spinach & Artichoke Dip, Onion Dip, and Chicken Liver Mousse (no thanks!).

I am currently on a 3 week vacation to spend time with family in Utah and escape the Arizona heat, so this was a recipe that was easy enough to make at my mom's house and share with family. I chose the spinach & artichoke dip and the guacamole (both got extremely high reviews). Sorry it's nothing too fancy!

Guacamole - I followed the recipe pretty closely. We didn't have any cayenne, so I substituted a little paprika & chili powder. I thought it tasted really good!! I didn't really have any "reserve lime juice" - no big deal and I thought it tasted a little salty with salted tortilla chips, so maybe you could half the salt. Tip: I hear that leaving the avacado pit in the guacamole keeps it greener (rather than turning brown quickly). Picture below.

Hot spinach & artichoke dip - I used canned artichokes rather than frozen and it turned out fine. I also used the low-fat sour cream and cream cheese (full 8 oz, rather than 6 oz). I thought this was so addicting!! I imagine that these dips don't have much variation, but I thought that the red pepper flakes gave it a nice kick. My mom said she was used to this type of dip having more cheese, but I thought it was just right. Sorry, no picture.

**In an effort to "learn something new" in addition to this week's recipes, I bought a whole artichoke and will attempt to cook and eat it - perhaps this is surprising that I haven't done this before. So if you have it down to a science, let me know. Thanks!**

Have a good week!