Baked Spinach-Parmesan Dip

this was a huge hit. I had leftover spinach and $8 worth of parmesan cheese that I forgot to serve on my soup the other night so after a quick google search with "spinach and parmesan cheese" I got a quick and easy recipe for a baked dip! all I had to pick up was an onion, otherwise I had all the ingredients!

the recipe calls for frozen spinach, I'm assuming for the easiness, but I had half a bag of fresh spinach left so I cut that up, chopped up an onion and complained to my roommate about how much my eyes were burning, a few cloves of garlic and 25 minutes in the oven and voila!

Andrew and I enjoyed it with tortilla chips and pumpernickel bread and between the two of us we managed to devour the entire dish! the recipe called for paprika but I didn't have any so I omitted it and don't feel like anything significant was missing. my dish was also the wrong size but being a student, I try my best to make-do with what I've been given!

this would be sweet for a potluck or any kind of dinner party. you could easily bake it at home while getting ready and once you arrive it would just need a quick reheat! the fact that the recipe says that it yields 12 and I'm looking at the empty dish that we devoured...I'll need to do a bit of exercise tomorrow so I don't feel so guilty!

the recipe is after the jump! :)

• 1 package (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1 cup reduced-fat or regular mayonnaise
• 1 package (3 oz.) cream cheese
• 1 onion (6 oz.), peeled and minced
• 1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 2 baguettes (8 oz. each), thinly sliced

squeeze spinach to remove liquid. with a mixer, beat spinach, mayo, cream cheese, onion, garlic, 1 cup of parmesan cheese and pepper until thoroughly combined. mound the mixture into a 3 to 4 cup baking dish and sprinkle evenly with two tablespoons parmesan cheese and paprika. bake in the oven at 350*c and lightly browned on top, about 25 to 30 minutes. serve hot! 

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