Healthy Spicy Spinach Dip with Pine Nuts

Feeling a little guilty after the holiday indulgences? Well, here's a delicious little treat that you can enjoy with a clear conscience ~ A perfect little nibble with your favorite beverage, and it would make a great choice for a Superbowl party, too.




First a small amount of finely minced onion is sauteed with 1/4 cup pine nuts, when the onion and nuts are a deep golden color a little ground cumin, ground coriander, pure chili powder and a pinch of ground cayenne is stirred into the mix just in until fragrant. (I used chipotle chili for it's slightly smoky flavor).  While that mixture is allowed to cool you can combine the base of the dip/spread.
 Rather than sour cream or cream cheese, the base is nonfat, thick Greek-style yogurt (no guilt there!) I used Fage brand with 0 fat ~ I really like it's creamy, thick consistency.  For the spinach ~ you can use frozen, thawed chopped spinach but I just gently steamed 10-ounces of fresh baby spinach, squeezed out as much liquid as possible then finely chopped it up. I like the texture of the freshly steamed much better than the frozen spinach in this particular recipe.
To finish the recipe just combine the cooled onion-spice mixture with the yogurt-spinach mixture, stir until thoroughly mixed together, add salt to taste and stir again. I also stirred in a couple of drops of lemon juice, and garnished with additional pine nuts. You can make this up to 24 hours ahead, covered and refrigerated. You can stir in a little milk if you would like a thinner dip.
Serve with thin slices of toasted baguette, tortilla chips, toasted pita crisps, crudites.



This also makes a nice condiment for grilled chicken, fish, or beef. If you try it I hope you like it as much as I do!
Click here for a printable copy of the recipe.
Thanks for stopping by friends!

Italian-style Sausage Soup with Kale (or Escarole, Swiss Chard, or Spinach)

It's sure not much to look at, but I had to share this recipe, it's one of the best rustic-style soups I've tasted ~ it's really chunky and full of flavor and substantial enough to serve as a meal.
If you do an internet search you'll find various variations of Italian Sausage soups; this one is often described as being very similar to The Olive Garden's "Toscana" soup ~ I'm not sure about that as I've never tried OG's Toscana soup, but if you have maybe you can let me know if it is similar or not.
It's difficult to believe a homemade soup with such amazing flavor can be made in about a half hour. I tweaked the recipe just a little from the original, and if you'd like a printable copy I've posted it over on the OUaP recipe site along with the few changes I made.
If you try it I hope you like it as much as I do.
Have a wonderful day, friends!  ~m.

Welcome 2012! Happy New Year, Friends!!

I'm wishing everyone a year of health, wealth, faith, peace ~ 


Along with abundant love to you and your loved ones.


I hope in the new year you each continue to Wish, Hope and Dream.
Happy New Year Friends!!
xoxo ~Mari

Merry Christmas ~ Season's Greetings!

       




 * Joyeux Noel * Feliz Navidad * Buon Natale * God Jul * Nollaig Shona * Gelukkig Kerstfeest * 聖誕節快樂 * Veselé Vánoce *

Срећан Божић * Fröhliche Weihnachten * Glædelig Jul *

I hope you get the *warm fuzzies* while watching this video. Even though it's a commercial, it lifts my spirits.    :)

I hope you all have very Happy Holidays!
I'll be taking a short blogcation ~ and look forward to seeing you all after the first of the year.
Merry Christmas and Season's Greetings, friends.
Abundant good blessings in the New Year!
xo ~ Mari

Snowflake Peppermint Bark ~ Redux

A redux, by request ~ Thank you friends!

Peppermint Bark Snowflakes
(make them any shape you like by using
other molds or filling various cookie cutters.)

You can also just make the recipe on a silicone pan 
liner (such as silpat®), then break into irregular
shards.

Wilton's has instructions to make shaped peppermint
bark ~ HERE.

The process is simple using the typical Peppermint Bark recipe. 

Choose your favorite type of chocolate; milk, semi-sweet, dark etc., 

white chocolate, crushed peppermint candies (or candy canes), 

a small amount of vegetable oil, 

and a few drops of Peppermint extract.

But instead of spreading the chocolate layers on a sheet pan, 

I  placed the melted chocolate (spiked with a couple of drops 

of peppermint extract, optional) in a silicone mold. 

First the dark layer and placed in the refrigerator until firm.

The melted white chocolate is spread on top of the dark layer 

and sprinkled with larger pieces of crushed peppermint, 

then back into the fridge to harden. 

As soon as the chocolate is firm the candy snowflakes 

are pushed out of the flexible silicone mold with no problem.

I used a small cookie scoop to portion the melted chocolate into 

the molds with a minimum of mess, that worked really well. 

Something that I found useful was to use a toothpick to 

swirl through the chocolate in the mold to help move 

it into the mold's details.

Stacked into little cellophane bags, or candy tins I think 

these would make a great little gift from your kitchen.  

If you try them I hope you have fun and enjoy them too.

I used a small cookie scoop to portion the melted chocolate into 

the molds with a minimum of mess, that worked really well. 

Something that I found useful was to use a toothpick 

to swirl through the chocolate in the mold to help move it 

into the mold's details.

Stacked into little cellophane bags, or candy tins--

I think these would make a great little gift from your kitchen.  

If you try them I hope you have fun and enjoy them too!

Happy Holidays!

Drum Roll Please! The Winner for Mamma Ro 2 Qt. Casserole . . .

2 Quart Covered Casserole by Mamma Ro

. . . by random drawing is

Gail @ Faithfulness Farm !
Gail, if you'll email me your mailing/shipping address I'll let the folks a Wayfair know so they can send it out to you right away.
onceuponaplate [@] gmail [dot] com
Thank you everyone for entering!


We'll be having another giveaway in the future, so please check back!

Caramel Popcorn with Fleur de Sel ~ Redux

So popular at our house ~ I'm reposting because this popcorn is perfect for the holidays!


Note: Please see Giveaway details HERE.
(or click on image of casserole over on the top right column, this page.)


I first learned of the basic recipe for this utterly delicious caramel popcorn from my friend Em on her blog The Repressed Pastry Chef. Em's blog was one of the very first I began following, even before I started blogging myself.








Unlike some caramel popcorn recipes this one does not require a candy thermometer, you just mix and boil the simple caramel ingredients for 5 minutes, then stir in a little baking soda and vanilla and pour the mixture over the popcorn, place in the oven and slow roast, stirring occasionally until the corn is evenly coated and nicely crisped.

I am not a huge fan of caramel popcorn, unless it is exceptional, and I LOVE this version.

Crispy and light, not heavy or sticky. I think you might love it, too.

The recipe calls for peanuts (an optional ingredient), I used pecans this time. You could use most any nut you like.

The popcorn made according to the recipe is delicious, and is not overly sweet. Since I tend to prefer salty tastes over sweets, I took the liberty of sprinkling the finished caramel popcorn with Fleur de Sel. Perfection!

This is a delightful snack and makes a nice little gift at holiday time, too.

If you would like a printable copy of the recipe you can find it

HERE on my recipe blog.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate !

Thank you for stopping by to visit my blog today ~

I appreciate any comments you would like to share.

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