Required Holiday Season Healthy-But-Not-Healthy Hot Spinach and Cheese Dip

This is another recipe from the “so why do I have frozen spinach in the back of the freezer?” file. Maybe I should just start buying frozen spinach on PURPOSE. Anyway, this is a fantastic dip to share. With four people, you can bust through this entire recipe in about an hour. Just plan to have enough dippers…like about 1 sleeve of Ritz per person. You think I’m kidding… It's also forgiving to make. Doesn't matter what size of spinach box/bag you have (within reason)—if you want more cheese in there, add it (no reason needed)—if you want more seasoning, add it. This would be entirely healthy, if it wasn’t for all the cheese. But then—it would just be a pile of steaming spinach. That sounds like a pile of steaming…never mind. Just make it, already!

Inspired by Martha Stewart’s Hot Spinach Dip recipe.

Yields about 5 cups

2 bags of frozen spinach (10 or 12oz), thawed

1 medium or large onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1T oil or butter for sautéing

2/3c chicken broth

8oz Neufchatel or cream cheese

1t sesame oil

2t Worcestershire sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

1c and 2c shredded cheese, divided (I used a cheddar blend)

1. Thaw and drain the frozen spinach. I recommend this new method—microwave it, then toss it in a sturdy colander in the sink and press it with a potato masher. Kind of awesome and quick.

2. Sauté the onion and garlic.

3. Turn the heat down and add the chicken broth (or you could use milk, beef broth, wine, whatever you have laying around). Warm through—you don’t want it simmering, but just steaming—especially if you use milk (it’ll get weird looking, though it will taste fine).

4. Add the Neufchatel or cream cheese to the pot and break it up with a spoon. Stir until it melts and incorporates.

5. Add the sesame oil, Worcestershire, and salt and pepper. Stir well.

6. Add the 1c of shredded cheese and stir until melted and incorporated.

7. Add the spinach and stir well.

8. Spoon the mixture into a baking dish. I used a 9 ½” L x 5” W x 3” D Pyrex dish, and it was the perfect size. You want some headroom so you can spread out the remaining 2c of shredded cheese on top. At this point, you can fridge the dip for another day, or proceed to warm it through and eat now.

9. Pop the dish into a preheated 350-degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until bubbly and the cheese has melted.

Serve with crackers (Ritz are great), pretzels, vegetables (if you must), whatever! Enjoy!