31 Days of Green: Day 28 & 29 Artichokes and Jalapeños

I didn’t freeze over in the snowpacalypse! We were however iced in for 2 days, so though I did have plenty of frozen veggies and greens, I didn’t have anything new to share. Today I will make up for 2 days! This tasty dip comes just in time for Super Bowl Sunday and features two tasty greens; artichokes and jalapenos. Artichokes are a great source of folic acid and an array of minerals and jalapenos are full of capsaicin. This dip is even easier to make then other artichoke dips and full of health fats and protein.

Blooming Artichoke Dip

Gluten Free

1 artichoke

1 bay leaf

2 jalapenos

1 tbl olive oil

1/3 cup brazil nuts

2 ½ tbl chevre

2 tbl water

½ tsp sea salt

1 orange bell pepper

Put the brazil nuts into a bowl of warm water and let them soak for 1-4 hours to soften up. Rinse the artichoke and cut off the stem to the base. Chop off the tip of the artichoke and any hard thorns. Steam the artichoke over a pot of water with a bay leaf in it until it is soft. Mine took about 30 minutes. You should be able to easily pull the center leaves apart, just watch out for steam. Let the artichoke cool. In the meantime, slice the jalapenos and mix with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and roast in the oven on 375oF for about 20 minutes until browned. Once the artichoke is cool enough to handle pull out the inner leaves. You can pull all of the leaves that feel tender, leaving a couple rows to make a ‘bowl’ out of the remaining artichoke. Add the inner leaves from the artichoke into a small food processor and blend until finely chopped. Set aside the chopped artichoke into a small mixing bowl. In the food processor add the drained brazil nuts, 2 tablespoons of fresh water, the chevre, and sea salt. Blend until somewhat smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Mix with the chopped artichoke and then put the dip into the artichoke bowl. Serve with sliced bell pepper.

Notes and Substitutions

• If you cant find chevre then I imagine cream cheese would work.
• This dip has some spice to it, if you don’t like spicy then deseed the jalapeno before roasting.
• Cashews or macadamia nuts would work in place of the brazil nuts.

Chop the artichoke leaves

Blend the remaining inredients

What is your favorite dip recipe?