Campfire Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Camping is one of my all time favorite hobbies.  We camped this past weekend and I can still smell remnants of campfire smoke in my hair and my clothes. I absolutely love it!  Ahhhhh, smells good.

Depending on where we go camping, and how close said camping is to a town with a grocery store, obviously dictates how much equipment and food we pack.  However, no matter where we go camping there is one thing for certain…..I’m packing a shit ton of my spices.

This last trip I believe I brought along 12-15 of my spices because you never know when they’ll be needed to “spice things up” 😀

ZING!!  OK, I apologize about the lame joke…I’ll refrain.

I love bringing a mega load of spices with me because they travel well, don’t need refrigeration, and don’t take up a lot of space in my car.  I’m obsessed with searching for camping inspiration on Pintrest and found hundreds and hundreds (OK, maybe like 20’s and 20’s) of ways to creatively take your spice rack camping with you.

Check out this adorable idea from www.recyclart.org from someone with the handle “Neodim”.

(Disclaimer, ^^ this is not my photo, all the credit goes here where I found this image to share)

I adore this idea!!!  Tic Tac boxes are small, thin, and most importantly, easy to pack.  I think my biggest fear is taking my original spice containers (especially the expensive spices) with me, and losing them, or forgetting them at the campground.  The Tic Tac box idea is perfect because who cares if you lose one?  Your original spice container is still safe and sound at home!

I found some other great options too from REI and Amazon.  Yay for awesome ideas!

So, the main reason I wanted to make Spinach and Artichoke dip was because I accidentally purchased two cans of artichoke hearts from Peapod.  What is Peapod you ask?  Peapod is a magical website where you can shop for groceries and have them delivered to your door. They are a bit more expensive than just going to the grocery store, but Peapod saves you a lot of time….which is key.

Also, as you’re filling up your online cart, it calculates tax and delivery costs so you know exactly how much you’re spending.  You don’t get shell shocked at the register!  We’ve all been there right….you get to the grocery store, get a little overzealous filling up your cart, then practically go into cardiac arrest as the cashier tells you the price of all the items she/he rung up.  Meanwhile, you’re head is swimming trying to think, “What the hell did I buy?  How did I spend that much?  OUCH!!!”  With Peapod’s calculator, you avoid that almost death experience!

Here’s on overview of Peapod:

Upsides:

1.  They deliver groceries to your door (which is amazballs when you live on the 3rd floor like I do).

2.  You can view the calculator WHILE you shop so it’s easier to stay within your budget.

3.  You can sign up for their text message service which will text you when the driver is on coming to your house next.

4.  You save a ton of time each week not having to drive to the store, shop, drive home, lug the groceries inside, then finally put them away.

 Downsides:

1.  They are more expensive…BUT I end up saving money in the long run because I don’t overspend using their calculator.

2.  You can not get same day delivery.

3.  They don’t get their groceries from Mariano’s or Trader Joe’s, it’s more like Jewel qualify groceries.

4.  It’s easy to accidentally not pay attention and end up with 2 cans of artichoke hearts instead of one……cough.

(Admittedly, the above picture does not look that appetizing, but I promise you it IS appetizing!)

So, I thought it would be fun to put together Spinach and Artichoke dip at the campsite for a snack (don’t ask me why I keep capitalizing Spinach and Artichoke….I guess because this dip was so good they deserve some respect  😀  ).  I didn’t pack measuring spoons so I kept adding pinches of my spices until I liked the taste…..below in the recipe, you’ll see pinches instead of actual amounts.  A good rule of thumb is to start with 1/4 teaspoon each and continue tasting and adding as you see fit.

I REALLY wanted to substitute cottage cheese for the cream cheese, to cut out some fat, but in order to make cottage cheese work, you would need to blend it in a food processor to make it creamy and smooth.  I plan on making this at home some day, so when I have my food processor handy, I’ll attempt this recipe again with that substitution.

I think a lot of Artichoke dip recipes can call for ingredients like cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, ect.  Since I was stuck using the cream cheese, I bought Greek yogurt in place of sour cream or mayo.  I wasn’t sure how it would hold up in the recipe, but the dip was heavenly.

Our neighbor and good friend Jillian accompanied us on this camping trip.  Her and I were the first one’s to try the dip.  We tore off a piece of our camping breadsticks, dunked them in the dip, and put them in our mouths.  As SOON as the creaminess hit our tongues our eye’s popped out of our heads and our jaws dropped open.  We stood, totally stupefied, just starring at each other.  I’m not sure how long we stood making those faces, but I clearly remember Kieran coming up to us and asking, “Um…are you guys OK?”  HA!

Hot DAMN the dip was beyond satisfying.  I think Jillian was the first to regain her composure and said something along the lines of, “OMG that is GOOD.”

Who am I kidding….of COURSE it was good…..don’t you feel like EVERYTHING tastes better when you’re camping?  Even water tastes like the best water you’ve ever had in your life at a campsite.  I’m all like, “OMG…this water….it’s amazing….I love it so much…..it’s the best thing ever!”

Moral of this story….if you make this at home and it doesn’t turn out right…..don’t blame me…..blame the magical elements that turn ordinary food into extraordinary standouts when cooked by a campfire 😀

Double Note: if you try cottage cheese instead of cream cheese the calories are 186 per serving, and the fat is 10.1g per serving!