Happy December!

WHAT A GREAT MONTH TO COOK!  Your family appreciates traditional meals and goodies, your neighbors and friends love to receive homemade food gifts.  I made it a point years ago to make some traditional favorites each year, and now, if I even think to serve something new in place of, for example, our traditional Overnight French Toast for Christmas morning, the troops cry out "NOOO!"  This secretly makes me very happy.


Today I want to share with you our favorite appetizer that is always requested by my family and friends.  It is easy, delicious and not on a dieter's menu -- the reason we ONLY make it during December (OK, we also made it on Thanksgiving day).  I don't remember where I got this recipe, but it is a winner, and you can see I have used it a lot!

HOT ARTICHOKE DIP

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

Mix these together until smooth.  Then add:

1 can artichoke hearts (canned in WATER), drained and squeeze the water out of each 'choke, then dice

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Pour into a greased dish, I use a 24 ounce round Corningware baking dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  You want the dip to bubble and be a bit browned before you take it out of the oven.  Let stand for just a few minutes, then serve with water crackers.

If you don't like artichokes, you can still love this dip.  When my daughter Rebecca was young, she asked "can you please make artichoke dip WITHOUT those artichokes?"  She would pick around them for the gooey goodness.  I decided just to dice the artichokes smaller!  No more complaints.  What is Artichoke Dip without the artichokes?