Our Veggie Kitchen

Healthy might be a stretch, especially if you're digging in with a bag of salty potato chips. But this dip is definitely not the mayonaise, cream cheese and more cheese dip that every other recipe seems to have. The star of this dip is actually artichoke hearts, made creamy with blended white beans (and, yes, a little Vegenaise and tofutti). But, in my defense, Vegenaise is a little miracle that should, at times, be celebrated.



Healthy Artichoke Dip
14 oz can artichoke hearts, drained & minced
6 oz jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained & minced
1/4 cup pickled jalapeno peppers, minced
1/4 cup shallots, minced
Sauce:
3/4 cup white kidney beans (1/2 can), drained & rinsed
1/4 cup Vegenaise
1/2 cup Tofutti Sour Cream
1 lemon, juiced
1 tbs juice from pickled jalapenos
1 tbs miso
2 cloves garlic

Add the sauce ingredients to a blender and blend thoroughly, until very smooth. Pour into a bowl and combine with the minced artichokes, jalapenos and shallots. Stir to combine and refrigerate until the sauce thickens, at least a couple of hours. The dip is better if kept overnight.

12 servings: 132 cal (5g fat, 18g carbs, 5g protein)

These poppers were inspired by an Iron Chef Challenge for Garlic. I go though a couple bulbs of garlic each week, but rarely is it a dominant flavor. It's really brought to the forefront with this treat. Chop the garlic in chunks so your treated with bursts of garlic flavor as you bite through. If you remove all the seeds, the poppers are relatively mild. Mix the seeds back in with the cheddar sauce and garlic for added heat.



Garlic Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers
15 good sized jalapeno peppers, with stems, if possible.
1 recipe Chedda Cheeze Sauce
10 cloves garlic,very roughly chopped
1 cup soy milk
1 cup flour
1 cup panko bread crumbs

Prepare jalapeno peppers. Cut a slit down the length of each pepper. With a paring knife, cut the seed pod at the top, beneath the stem, inside the pepper. Scoop out the seeds. Reserve some or all of the seeds for a hotter popper. Mix the garlic and seeds with the cheeze sauce. Spoon into the peppers. It's easier to be messy, then wipe each pepper with a paper towel than to be tidy. Place on a wire rack.

Bread poppers. Working individually, dip each popper into soy milk, then toss in flour. Set back on the wire rack. Allow the poppers to set for 10 minutes, or so. The flour will have hardened somewhat. Dip each popper back into the soy milk, then into the bread crumbs and set back on the wire rack. Again, allow to set for 10 minutes.

Deep fry poppers. Heat the oil until a bit of cracker immediately sizzles when dropped in. This is medium high on my stove. Working in 3-4 batches, gently drop the poppers into the oil. Stemmed peppers make this step much easier. Cook for 4-5 minutes, until the breading is golden brown. Set on a wire rack and allow to cool. These are especially good dipped in ranch dressing.

Makes 15 poppers. I chose not analyze the nutrition because it depends greatly upon how much cheeze & bread crumbs are used and how much oil is absorbed. Also, I don't want to know.