Vegetable Dip
This is a great dip for a vegetable tray. You can substitute low-fat or fat free mayonnaise and sour cream to make it lighter. Almost any vegetable is great for the tray, but here are some of the ones we like: baby carrots, celery, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, bell peppers (all colors,) fresh asparagus, jicama, turnips, sugar snap peas and cherry tomatoes.
If you don’t like the flavor of some of the vegetables raw, try blanching them. Dip the vegetable in boiling water for 20 seconds to 1 minute, depending on how tender you want the end product. Take them out promptly and dump them into ice water to stop the cooking. After they chill, many vegetables will have a different flavor. This is especially good for asparagus, and some of the Holts like their broccoli cooked too.
A great way to decorate a vegetable tray is to use colored bell peppers. Around here, we can get them in red, yellow, orange and purple as well as the usual green. A few of these can really liven up an appetizer tray, and they are great for you as well.
Yield: 1 cup dip
Time: 1 hour (in the refrigerator for the flavors to marry)
Ingredients:
2/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sour cream
1 tbs dried onion flakes
1 tbs dried parsley flakes
1 tsp dried dill weed (2 tbs fresh is really great if you have it)
1 tsp seasoned salt (or substitute with a dash of chili powder instead)
1 tsp dried chives (or 2 tbs fresh)
Instructions:
Mix all ingredients together and chill at least one hour before serving.