Christina Cooks: Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Posted by Gypsy on Jan 26, 2009
As many of you know, since moving to California I’ve been living the life of a housewife. As even more of you know, I don’t cook. But since I’ve started doing the whole homemaker thing, I’ve been a little bored and have started channeling that boredom in teaching myself how to cook by actually using those dusty cookbooks that have been sitting on my counters. Since it’s been going pretty well, I thought I would start sharing what I’ve learned.
Today’s recipe is Spinach and Artichoke Dip. I’ve tried a few different recipes for this, always hoping to find something that tastes just as good as it does in restaurants. The one I’m about to share is it. And, it’s pretty easy to make at home. Perfect for a party or just weekend snacking, it can be prepared in just 15 minutes and cooks up in about 20-25.
Ingredients:
6 oz marinated artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped
1 package (9-11 oz) frozen creamed spinach, thawed
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1 small garlic clove, pressed
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Put all ingredients into a bowl and stir.
3. Spoon into round pan. (I use a 9″ round silicon pan, but any pan of similar size will work.)
4. Bake 20-25 minutes or until heated through.
This recipe makes about 2 cups of dip and can be served with toasted pita bread chips or tortilla chips. Enjoy!
Run, Gypsy, Run!
Posted by Gypsy on Jan 22, 2009
As you all know, I just recently moved to San Diego. One of my favorite things about this city is the weather. It’s sunny and decent out just about year round (with a rainy day here and there). This means I can enjoy running outside whenever I want to, which always makes me happy.
But rather than running just to run, I’ve decided it’s time to have a goal. The goal I’ve decided on is getting into shape to run the America’s Finest City Half Marathon in August. It’s 13.1 miles of running through downtown San Diego and should be a good time.
My training has been a combination of trying to eat right and a massive amount of running. I’ve stopped eating most junk food and started cooking healthy. At the moment, I’m running about 15 miles a week, but over the next seven months I will be slowly increasing that so I am prepared to run on race day. All my training will involve running in some way. These will include easy runs and long runs, both meant to build up my stamina and endurance, mixed with a few tempo runs to build up speed. I’m going to try and update this blog with my progress as I go along, but my training log can also be viewed here.
At this point, my goal with this marathon is not just to finish it, but to do it in less than three hours, which will earn me a finisher medal. As I train more and get a better idea of what I’m capable of, I might tighten up a goal a little bit and try to beat a certain time, but this early in my training it’s hard to tell.
