Baked White Bean, Spinach & Artichoke Dip

White Bean Dip..the taste of Tuscany.  Smooth, cool, and a blank canvas.  It’s just great out of the bottle…warmed or cold.  I really like to take this dip and jazz it up.  Stir in roasted red peppers, pitted olives, capers, pesto, more garlic, sun dried tomatoes, hot red chile flakes, any fresh herb you can think of…its an amazing canvas to work from.  Serve it with toasted baguette slices (rub with a little olive oil before  toasting or grilling), pita chips are super scoopers, or right from the bag blue corn chips.

BAKED WHITE BEAN, SPINACH AND ARTICHOKE DIP

Artichoke Bean Dip

Clearly, this is my take on the classic spinach artichoke dip. Again, this jazzes up pronto..add roasted red peppers, more of everything, stir it all up…and impress the hell out of your guests.  Oh, my mom likes to add chopped drained Chinese water chestnuts for that “crunch” factor.

2 jars DESERT PEPPER WHITE BEAN DIP

1/4 cup grated Romano or Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 (15 ounce can) baby artichoke heart OR bottled artichoke hearts (drain oil or water)

1 (9 ounce) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeeze dry

Pre heat oven to 350.  Mix all the above ingredients in a bowl, pour into a ceramic baking dish, top with more Parmesan cheese or mozzarella cheese.  Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.  Serve with toasted pita chips, crostini or blue corn chips.