A great way to get kids to eat fruits and veggies is to cut them into sticks and dip. And dips are so easy, even I can do it!
Sneaky secret – when I worked at a deli and made those fancy fruit plates, we made loads of fluffy strawberry dip. People would ask for the recipe but we wouldn’t reveal it. Probably because it was embarrassing – 1 tub of Cool Whip plus one package of strawberry jello powder. The ultimate in sugar loaded fake food. And of course, there’s the classic sour cream plus dessicated onion soup mix packet schmear that graces every pot luck table.
But dips don’t have to come from from an envelopes and bottles full of MSG and other fillers. Here are some healthier dips made with real food that will whip up in just a few seconds.
You don’t really need a recipe. I just plop, pour, stir, and then adjust to taste.
Fruit dips:
Peanut butter + maple syrup (great for apples!)
Lime juice + honey (awesome for jicama)
Basic ranch dip:
Sour cream + buttermilk to thin a bit + onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper
Spicy dip:
Sour cream + salsa
Dilly dip:
Lemon juice, plain yogurt, dill (great for green beans, asparagus spears, or zucchini sticks)
Pizza dip:
Tomato paste thinned to dipping consistency with water, garlic powder, oregano. Top with a sprinkle of Parmesan or mozzarella.
Easy cheese ball/spread:
1 package cream cheese, chopped bacon bits or ham, chopped green onions. Smush together and form a ball. Make it the night before and store in the fridge to let the flavors meld.
Tex Mex cheese ball:
Cream cheese, chopped green chiles, finely diced tomato. Same method. Smush, form, fridge.
Taking a dip works for me!
Linking up:
Kitchen Steward’s Real Food for the Holidays Progressive Dinner- appetizers
Get your posts ready for tomorrow’s Glamour of a SAHMer! What’s Glamour of a SAHMer?
Link up and tell us what the dirtiest, weirdest, or worst thing you did last week. Grab the graphic and link back, or you can just post in the comments.
It actually encourages me to know I’m not alone in a sea of grape jellied clothes and mucky dusty toilet bolt covers.
Glamour of a SAHMer will run on the first Thursday of the month- you can choose an old post if you like just link to me and then link to the URL of your post (not your blog’s homepage.)
Karen (1)
Raso @ lasagnarec... (1)
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
We make our peanut butter dip with honey instead of maple syrup. We also use Thyme instead of oregano in our pizza dip. They are still very tasty and popular, though!
We often do fruit and veggie dippers for lunch…really like some of these dip ideas!
My kids love “green french fries”. cut cucumber into sticks and serve with a yogurt green onion and garlic dip. like tzatzik sauce deconsructed. you can always dress up barbecues sauce with some dried ancho peppers. just plop them in whole in a pot and let them infuse on low heat.
Those recipes are OUTSTANDING!! So many to try, I don’t know where to start!
I have used that trick for many years now. Every time I encounter a vegetable that is ‘less than palatable’ to young taste buds, I serve with a favorite dip and it’s an amazing hit. It doesn’t take long for them to love the vegetable sans dip with that little trick.
Great ideas and all healthy too! Sometimes I do a spin on your spicy dip: salsa mixed with plain yogurt instead of sour cream.
And we like bean dip – mix shredded cheese, refried beans, and a dash of comino; heat to melt the cheese. Yummy with baked tortilla chips.
Thanks for this post! I always make the exact same easy dip (sour cream plus Lipton Soup French Onion mix) so I’m excited to have a few others.
Basic French onion dip:
Sour cream (Raw grass-fed if you’ve got it. I usually use Daisy brand. It’s not organic, but most sour creams, including the organic ones, have a bunch of ingredients. Daisy brand & Breakstone’s have cultured cream and that’s it)
Minced onion (the little dehydrated onions from the herb & spice dept)
Garlic Pepper
Salt
Mix it up till it tastes right to you. Takes about 30 seconds.
I added you to my linky love this week!
Thanks for the great post
http://onecookandtwochefs.blogspot.com/2010/07/just-little-love.html
Oooh, I’ll have to look back at these! One that my kids love is vanilla yogurt with peanutbutter (a little more pb than yogurt) for apple dip. It’s really good. And, cool whip mixed w/ fruit on the bottom strawberry yogurt for fruit dip…that’s yummy too!
Thanks!
{ 2 trackbacks }