Greek Salsa

Finely diced tomato, onion, cucumber, bell pepper, feta and garbanzo beans. A Greek salad in salsa form.

I had left over Greek salad from earlier and I didn't want to have the same thing again.  I did not want to waste a perfectly good salad either so I decided to give my old Greek salad a make over.  I put the left overs in the food processor, along with some other additions and chopped it up to make a dip.  Being very similar to salsa I am calling this creation Greek Salsa.  It turned out great and was served with pitas.  It would also be great with pita chips or tortilla chips.

Ingredients:

2 cups left over Greek Salad
1/4 cup feta
1-2 cloves garlic, finely minced or crushed
fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp fresh parsley

In the bowl of a food processor finely chop/mince the garlic.  Then add the Greek Salad, feta, and parsley.  Pulse until chopped to an even consistency.  Then stir in the lemon juice (use as much or little as you prefer).  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with fresh pita wedges or pita chips.

This salsa was very good.  Even though I do not like olives I think they would be a perfect addition.  You can also use more parsley and maybe some oregano if you like.  This is a wonderful variation to the traditional salsa.  Enjoy.

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Warm Blue Cheese Spinach Dip

A warm creamy dip made with cream cheese, blue cheese and spinach.  Great party dip for breads and chips.

I love all kinds of party dips, especially the warm cheesy kinds.  I am also picky.  I don't like to dip tortilla chips in cream cheese based dips I prefer bread.  I hate it when I go to a restaurant and order spinach artichoke dip and it is served with chips.  I believe any warm cheese dip (made with a cream cheese base) should be served with bread.  Leave the tortilla chips for queso and salsa.

So when I had fresh bread and more blue cheese than I knew what to do with; I made a dip.  There were not a lot of blue cheese dip recipes that weren't for dressing or vegetable dips.   So I made up this one.  I used cream cheese as the base and added blue cheese for the flavor and then I added some spinach to make me feel healthier.  I have to say this was awesome.  The blue cheese adds another layer of flavor that makes a regular spinach dip taste so much better.  I highly recommend this recipe and the next time I have a party or need to bring something to a party this will be it.

Ingredients:

1 package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup parmasean
1 cup cooked spinach (I used boiled from frozen spinach)
1 tsp garlic powder
pinch of salt
crumbled bacon, optional (I just had some leftover from breakfast and added it)

Stir all of the ingredients together until well combined.  Scrape into an oven proof baking dish and bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes until bubbly.

Serve with thin slices of your favorite bread and enjoy.

Linked to:  Retro Repin

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