Marsha's/Betty Crocker's Slow Cooker Hot Artichoke and Spinach Dip

Scott and I got some spinach in our Bountiful Basket, and neither one of us are really big spinach people.  Wilted greens is just not something I am that excited about.  I could maybe handle eating some of it in salad form, but instead I started browsing the Internet and I found this basic recipe on the Betty Crocker website (click here to see the original).  Like usual, I changed things up just a bit to make it more to our liking.

Marsha's/Betty Crocker's Slow Cooker Hot Artichoke and Spinach Dip

1

bundle fresh spinach

1

can (14 oz) quartered artichoke hearts, drained, chopped

1

10-oz jar Alfredo pasta sauce

1

cup mayonnaise

3/4

teaspoon garlic salt

1/4

teaspoon pepper

2

cups shredded Swiss cheese (8 oz)

1

loaf (20-inch length) baguette French bread, cut into 40 slices

1. Wash spinach and remove stems.  Steam for 3-5 minutes or until tender and wilted.  Drain and freeze in a small Ziplock bag pressed flat to speed freezing/thawing time.  Once frozen, thaw and re-drain excess water from spinach.
2. In a slow cooker, mix all ingredients except bread.
3. Cover; cook on Low heat setting 2 to 4 hours. Serve dip with sliced bread, bagels or crackers.

Because we had fresh spinach, I changed the recipe to indicate that I first needed to cook and freeze the spinach.  Often with freezing, additional moister is released from things when they thaw.  So, to keep the water content of this recipe consistent with using a store-bought frozen spinach, I cooked and froze my fresh spinach before thawing, draining and adding to my slow cooker.


The original recipe basically called for half as much of the sauce ingredients, but Scott and I both felt it was a little heavy in the veggie department.  It worked out very nicely to double all the sauce ingredients, not only for a better balance in the sauce, but because it then used an entire jar of Alfredo and an entire block of cheese, eliminating some leftovers.  On the flip-side, this recipe now makes A LOT of dip and you can't use a small 1 to 1 1/2 qt. slow cooker anymore, and I had to pull out the big guns and use my slow cooker that I make roasts in.