The photo above is of my dinner last night. You see, last night was the final day of a 5-day challenge I created for myself. For five days I gave up beans, grains, and most starchy vegetables and concentrated on eating more fruits and non-starchy vegetables. Why? Partly because I’d been relying on beans and grains a bit too much lately and I needed a culinary challenge. But mostly because I’ve been eating a bit too much of everything lately, and I needed to take a few days and “detox,” for lack of a better word–to get the heavy foods out of my system and re-set my taste-buds to lighter fare.
Did it work? I’d say yes. I certainly felt challenged in the kitchen, perhaps too much so. (Last night’s dinner was a result of that; more on that in a minute.) And after a few days of mainly fruits and veggies, I feel lighter and more energetic, and the cravings I’d had for refined carbs and desserts have pretty much disappeared. I feel confident that I can add back the beans and grains in moderate amounts without going crazy and grabbing the nearest vegan doughnut!
But by the end of the week, I was flagging creatively. Last night I just didn’t have the desire to go to the kitchen and try to whip plain vegetables into something I could make myself believe was a main dish. In fact, I didn’t feel like turning on the stove at all. So I didn’t. I decided to make myself an easy dip of artichoke hearts and roasted red peppers, chop some raw veggies, and make that my dinner while the husband and daughter cracked open a box of Boca burgers for themselves. The dip turned out to be something that I’m going to be making regularly from now on–it was flavorful and filling and (WARNING) extremely spicy with two cloves of garlic. In the future I’ll tone down the garlic but keep the rest of this tasty recipe.
Artichoke Hearts and Roasted Red Pepper Dip
Ingredients
- 1 14-ounce can quartered artichoke hearts, drained
- 1/4 cup roasted red peppers (from a jar)
- 1-2 cloves garlic, chopped (these get very strong, so I advise moderation)
- 1 tbsp. tahini
- 1/8 tbsp. white pepper
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Serve as a dip for fresh vegetables (baby carrots, peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, etc.) or pita bread.
Preparation time: 5 minute(s) | Cooking time: 0 minutes
Number of servings (yield): 4
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per serving): 76 calories, 16 calories from fat, 2g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 97.4mg sodium, 384mg potassium, 13.1g carbohydrates, 5.9g fiber, <1g sugar, 4.3g protein, 2.5 points.
PS–I didn’t actually eat all of the food you see in the first photo! My husband was happy to polish off what I couldn’t finish, and E. helped with the Kalamata olives.
michelle
May 24, 2006 at 11:10 amI made this and took it for lunch today. Used lots of fresh veg for dipping. Excellent.
syd
May 28, 2006 at 1:12 pmWe made this today, and it was super. I subbed 1/4 tsp of garlic powder for the fresh — my DD is only 3, and raw garlic is too strong for her taste. She LOVED it, and asked for many helpings.
Anonymous
November 20, 2006 at 10:17 amI made this tonight and everyone loved it. Even my 8yr old and 11yr old girls.
I love this blog!
Jenn
May 28, 2010 at 8:10 amYUM! As someone else has said, you are brilliant! This will definitely satisfy my cravings on those ‘snacky supper’ nights.
Sarah
May 22, 2011 at 8:41 pmOh, my. How good was this! I had to made a substitution — used pickled peppers instead of roasted red peppers — and this is absolutely fantastic. My eating this with some crusty bread tonight has surely thwarted the rest of what I was planning for dinner! 🙂
Vicky
May 18, 2012 at 3:02 pmThis sounds wonderful!
Lisa
May 18, 2012 at 9:13 pmI love your site. I have enjoyed your recipes!
Sharon
June 25, 2012 at 9:09 pmWell, I didn’t have the tahini, so I googled substitutions and came up with peanut butter and a dash of sesame oil. In my infinite wisdom, I decided to use cashew butter plus the dash of sesame oil (should have used the peanut butter!). We didn’t think it had much flavor, but that might be because of my substitution. We did like the texture though. Thanks Susan!
I will try it again AFTER I buy some tahini. That said, I will definitely recommend this to my friend who is on the “Weight Watchers” plan.
Nikki
February 9, 2013 at 2:29 pmI can’t wait to try this, but I will be leaving out the tahini for a lower fat option. Thanks for the great idea!
Divorced Kat
May 28, 2014 at 7:47 amI felt like this was missing something. The garlic was pretty potent (which I didn’t mind), but it felt otherwise just a touch blah. Maybe a little extra tahini would’ve livened things up?