Artichoke Dip with Olive and Potato

This is a very delicious dip that nonvegans love too. The secret is the potato that Dreena Burton uses to make the dip creamy without using cream cheese, mayo, or sour cream.

Artichoke Dip with Olive and Potato
Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan

1/2 cup (packed) cooked red or Yukon gold potatoes (she recs baking the potato)
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 medium-large clove garlic (to your taste), quartered (I use 2)
3/4 tsp dry mustard
3/4 tsp sea salt (I use Kosher)
2 tbsp nutritional yeast (I use closer to 1 3/4 tbsp)
2-3 pinches freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 cup plain non-dairy milk- soy is best for creamy thick texture
3- 3 1/2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp fresh parsley leaves
1 can 14-oz artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed, and liquid lightly squeezed out
1/4 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves
1/4-1/3 cup pitted Kalamata or black olives, or combination of both (Kalamatas impart a stronger flavor) (I used all Kalamata)
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 pinches sea salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 375F. In a food processor, combine potato, lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, mustard, 3/4 tsp salt, nutritional yeast, and pepper and briefly pulse. Add about 1/4 cup milk and puree until very smooth. Then add the remaining milk, 3-3 1/2 tbsp oil, and parsley and puree until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Once dip is very smooth, add artichoke hearts, basil, and olives, and pulse to lightly incorporate ingredients retaining some chunky consistency. Transfer to a medium-sized baking dish. In a small bowl, combine breadcrumbs, 1/2 tbsp oil, and salt, then sprinkle evenly over dip. Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

I serve this with pita chips and crackers but found that it's good with celery and carrot sticks too.

Happy New Year!

DH and I are enjoying a cup of Cafe Monteverde Rainforest coffee from Costa Rica. A very yummy coffe from a fantastic vacation from a great year. For my first post for 2009- my fave books of 2008 (and some that were not).

Excellent to Very Good
fiction
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle- David Wroblewski- probably my fave book this year
Hummingbird’s Daughter- Luis Alberto Urrea- beautiful and a strong female main character
Out Stealing Horses- Per Peterson- spare writing but very moving story- I could smell the forest- it does just end. I felt it could have had a few more chapters
Outlander- Gil Adamson- slow start but when I wanted more when the story finished
Housekeeping- Marilynne Robinson- hooked me in
Gilead- Marilynne Robinson- beautiful story about a dad and his son
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society- Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows- a feel good love story that you know what will happen but you enjoy the story anyway
The Art of Racing in the Rain- Garth Stein- I can’t look at Indy the same anymore
Snow- Orhan Pamuk
Water for Elephants- Sara Gruen- another slow starter but good
Peony in Love- Lisa See- just loved this- not sure why
The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald- it’s a classic for a reason
Deep Blue Goodbye- John D MacDonald- fun detective story- so 60’s but still good
Book Thief- this also might be my fave this year

nonfiction
Old Dogs- Gene Weingarten :) see page 107
Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain- Maryanne Wolf- surprisingly easy to read and fascinating- I’m learning so much
Outliers- Malcolm Gladwell
In Defense of Food- Michael Pollan
The Diving Bell and The Butterfly- Jean-Dominique Bauby
How to Read Literature like a Professor- Thomas C Foster- another fun read
The Case for Language- Gao Xingjian
Red Azalea- Anchee Min
Painting Chinese: A Lifelong Teacher Gains the Wisdom of Youth- Herbert Kohl
Seductions of Rice- Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid
Eating India: An Odyssey into the Food and Culture of the Land of Spices- Chitrita Banerji
The Glass Castle- Jeanette Walls
Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism- Muhammad Yunus
Infidel- Ayaan Hirsi Ali
The Shadow of the Sun- Ryszard Kapuściński


Good
Enchantress of Florence- Salman Rushdie
How Starbucks Saved my Life- Michael Gates Gill
The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food- Judith Jones
Nineteen Minutes- Jodi Picoult
Atonement- Ian McEwan
Eat, Pray, Love- Elizabeth Gilbert
The Madonnas of Leningrad- Debra Dean
Divisadero- Michael Ondaatje
The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild- Craig Childs
The World Peace Diet- Will Tuttle
Getting Things Done- David Allen
The Double Bind- Chris Bohjalian
The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature- Steven Pinker



Not for Me
Holiday’s on Ice- David Sedaris- I loved the story 6-8 Black Men but prefer to be in my happy place at the holidays
The Inheritance of Loss- Kiran Desai- great writing but too bleak for me
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao- Junot Díaz- but I plan on trying once more
Duma Key- Stephen King
Lulu in Marrakech- Diane Johnson

In the Middle of
Soul Mountain- Gao Xingjian
The Yiddish Policeman’s Union- Michael Chabon
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down- Anne Fadiman
The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears- Dinaw Mengestu
The Invention of Hugo Cabret- Brian Selznick
The Library at Night- Alberto Manguel

Snow in August- Pete Hamill


Faves from other years
Plain Truth- Jodi Picoult
Second Glance- Jodi Picoult
Pigs in Heaven- Barbara Kingsolver
A Fine Balance- Rohinton Mistry
Bel Canto- Ann Patchett
The Piano Tuner- Daniel Mason
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan- Lisa See
Palace Walk- Naguib Mahfouz
Anil’s Ghost- Michael Ondaatje
The Road- Cormac McCarthy
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim- David Sedaris
Memory Keeper’s Daughter- Kim Edwards
A Staggering Work of Incredible Genius- David Eggers

TBR
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo- Stieg Larsson
Travels with Herodotus- Ryszard Kapuściński
The Tenderness of Wolves – Stef Penney
Chains- Laurie Halse Anderson
In the Woods- Tana French
Home- Marilynne Robinson
The Last Chinese Chef- Nicole Mones
Mountains Beyond Mountains- Tracy Kidder
Loving Frank- Nancy Hora
2666: A Novel- Roberto Bolano
Death of Vishnu- Manil Suri
The Other- Ryszard Kapuściński
The Writer as Migrant- Ha Jin

New Cookbooks
Heirloom Beans- Steve Sando
Hot Sour Salty Sweet- Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid
Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World- Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Cooking Light Annual 2008
Seductions of Rice- Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid
The Rice Cooker Cookbook- Beth Hensberger
How to Cook Everything Vegetarian- Mark Bittman
The Chopra Center Cookbook- Deepak Chopra