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Are you ready for some football?  Or should I say, for a bunch of people in you living room screaming at a tv set and eating copious amounts of finger foods?  If you’re not as ready as you think, or if you’re still looking for the extra little item that will make them say “Wow!” without you having to put that much effort into it, then my dear friends, here is that little wow-factor for you.

Weekly recipe attempt: Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Leave it to Alton Brown to make an easy dip that most of us probably already spent lots of money purchasing pre-made in the grocery store.  I used to look at spinach dip recipes and peruse the supermarket aisles for components.  What I found was the priciness of the pieces.  If you buy fresh spinach, and the artichoke hearts in a jar, then the prices tend to add up and you would be better off buying this pre-made.

Alton, however, leads us to the frigid path of delicious, inexpensive items to make this recipe worth your while.  Go to the freezer section.  That’s the secret.  It also makes things a whole lot easier.  There’s less draining, less chopping, less cooking, and less use of that hard earned paycheck.  Get the chopped frozen spinach and the frozen artichoke hearts. I found these at Trader Joes, for less than two bucks each bag.  I even have enough of both left over to make a double batch.  And this dip is so good that you might want to. 

This might be a record, folks!  I’m giving this one a 10 out of 10.  It looks like it took all day to make, but it took me about ten minutes to make and tastes delicious.  If you’re wondering what the little pale yellow things are in the picture, they’re fat-free pretzel slims that I found at Trader Joe’s as well.  Also, feel free to use up whatever vegetables you have in your fridge for and assortment of crudites.  This dip will definitley impress even the most hard core football fan.  FYI- the dip also tastes pretty good cold the next day.  It doesn’t necessarily need to be served hot in my opinion.