Dip It | Curried Cream Cheese Dip with Dried Cranberries, Pine Nuts, and Green Onion

April 25, 2011 By 37 Comments

Hello friends! Happy Monday. I hope you all had a lovely Easter/spring weekend filled with family, friends, good food, and sunshine. I sure as heck did. If you ate half as much food and chocolate as I did, you have probably been swimming in a food/sugar coma state, like me. And could there possibly be a better cure for such a coma than perusing and drooling over a new recipe? I think not.

Especially when it is an attack-the-tastebuds-in-a-good-way recipe. Enter this seemingly complex, colorful, flavor explosion dip.

Explaining this dip with words is impossible. But I’ll try anyway. It’s creamy, tangy, sweet, and spicy all at once. Plus chewy from dried cranberries and crunchy from toasted pine nuts. I first tried it at a work potluck a couple of years ago, but only recently rediscovered it. I don’t know where the recipe came from, or what the real name of this creation is, so I am calling it like it is.

Take this dip to your next potluck or serve it at your next party. Your guests won’t know what hit ‘em.

In a good way of course.

Curried Cream Cheese Dip with Dried Cranberries, Pine Nuts, and Green Onions

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 tsp. curry powder

2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 cup red pepper or red chile jelly, divided

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

1/4 cup green onions, chopped (about 3 green onions)

Combine the cream cheese, spices*, and 3 TBSP. of the jelly until smooth. An electric or hand mixer will make this easy. Spread the mixture into the bottom of a shallow dip dish (roughly 5″ x 7″). Spread the remaining jelly over top of the cream cheese mixture. Combine the dried cranberries, pine nuts, and green onions in a small bowl to mix, then sprinkle evenly over top of the dip. Chill until you serve. I think this dip tastes great with plain rice crackers, but any small cracker will do! Enjoy!

*You can adjust the amount of curry powder and cumin depending on the level of flavor you would like. If you don’t want such strong flavors, use just 1 tsp. of each. If you want the flavors to be very intense you can use up to 1 TBSP. of each, but I find 2 tsp. of each to be a happy medium.


What are some of your favorite potluck or appetizer recipes?

Filed Under: Appetizers, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , ,

Another Keeper | Sweet Potato Chickpea Curry

January 16, 2011 By 1 Comment

Hello lovelies! I hope you are all having a great weekend. If you are in Edmonton, you are probably digging your way out of all of the snow over the past week. Where is it all coming from? I can’t remember the last winter that saw us getting several feet of snow at once! Makes me want to just hibernate and wake up in April. Only 3 more months to go. *sigh*

Cold weather warrants warm, spicy, and fragrant stews around here. Honey and I are big curry fans, and typically eat some type of curry concoction at least once per week. We also try to eat a couple of vegetarian meals each week. This sweet potato chickpea curry kills two birds with one stone and has a lovely flavor from the peanut butter and orange juice. Not to mention the thai curry paste. I’m not a huge fan of very spicy dishes, but if you like your curries on the hotter side, increase the amount of curry paste you use. You could also substitute green or yellow curry paste, depending on your preference (green is the spiciest, yellow is the mildest). Enjoy my friends ~ happy eating!

Sweet Potato Chickpea Curry (adapted from The Best of Chef at Home, Michael Smith)

A splash of vegetable oil

1 large onion, diced

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

A small knob of frozen ginger

2 tsp. of Thai red curry paste

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 19-oz. can of chickpeas, drained

1 14-oz. can of coconut milk

1 cup of orange juice

1/2 cup of peanut butter

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 cup frozen green peas

Several handfuls of baby spinach

Chopped cilantro

Add a splash of vegetable oil to a stockpot over medium-high heat. Toss in the onion and garlic and saute them until they are lightly browned, about 5 minutes.

Grate the frozen ginger into the pan and add the Thai curry paste. Continue cooking until the spices are heated through and fragrant, another few minutes.

Add the sweet potatoes, chickpeas, coconut milk, orange juice, peanut butter, and salt. Brig to a simmer, lower the heat and continue simmering until the sweet potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. Stir in the peas, spinach, and cilantro. Serve over rice.

Filed Under: Main Dishes, Soups and Stews, Vegetables and Legumes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , ,