Spinach Dip

the easiest way to get your vegetables

things you’ll need: one packet of powdered vegetable soup (Knorr is preferred, Lipton will suffice), mayonnaise, sour cream, a 10oz package of frozen spinach, one can of water chestnuts, green onion, and objects for dipping.

I went to a family holiday gathering and was told to make sure I got some of Beth’s spinach dip because it was the best spinach dip ever. It was. When I asked her for the recipe, which most people are happy to disclose to me, she was a little dodgy. Persistent and fixated as I can be, I asked again after the festivities had settled down a bit. Finally, she leaned over and said, “I follow the directions on the back of the box.” Beth prefers Knorr, which calls for more sour cream and some green onion.

incidentally gluten-free and vegetarian. The most delicious vegan substitution I could find was vegan cream cheese and vegenaise, but you can substitute vegan sour cream, silken tofu, or vegan yogurt. A little nutritional yeast wouldn’t hurt either.

---

Chapter 254

There are vegetables you keep in stock because they don’t go bad before you remember that they exist. Sometimes they make it into curries or veggie bowls. When you have the time and energy for sustained chewing, you make kale or cabbage salads. But all of these things require chopping or whisking or being mildly creative, which is more work than you always have to offer.

You know that you are supposed to consume vegetables. You are typically very good at it because it makes you feel good and you like things that make you feel good. You also like things that feel good for now, like dairy and toxic relationships, but you are trying to make better choices.

You know that taking care of yourself involves food and watching less of the news. You take showers and clean out the fridge and try to think about food in meal forms, balancing carbs and fiber and protein. When you go grocery shopping, you make lists and imagine the meals your full cart will become. You toss in snacks and a few boxes of processed comfort, just in case.

Today is for just-in-case foods: the soup mix tucked into a corner and the box of frozen spinach behind all the quarts of soup. Today, you get to use the can of water chestnuts that you thought might go into a stir-fry, but you never found spoons enough to make one. Today, your vegetables are raw, maybe even pre-cut, because you know that vegetables are essential and delicious and the basis for anything you decide to call a meal, but cooking them is just beyond the scope of things you want to do. Today is a dip-for-dinner kind of day.

Mix 1-2 cups of sour cream with 1 cup of mayo. Add one packet of vegetable soup mix from the box at the back of the cabinet. Drain and cut the water chestnuts into crunchy bits and stir them into the dip base along with a few sliced green onions (if you have them). Let it sit while you thaw the 10oz box of spinach.

Squeeze as much liquid from the thawed spinach as your hands can manage and add it to the dip base, thus officially making the dip “Spinach Dip” and doubling the vegetable intake.

Peel and cut carrots into sticks or rip open the bag of baby carrots you bought because they’re just an easier option. Core and cut cauliflower and/or broccoli from its crown. Cut cucumbers, peppers, radishes, or whatever else is available. Tear open a bag of Triscuits, cube some rye bread, quarter up leftover pita bread, or forgo carbs altogether.

Consume your vegetables heaped in dip. Cut more veggies than you need and eat them again for lunch or snack or whichever meal happens when you are hungry and need more vegetables.

You do your best, as with most of the adulting required of you. You get up and attended to the minutia of living and taking care of yourself and the people who rely on you. Vegetables help you and dip makes vegetables into a meal.

---

Three more dips:

• Whipped Feta and Veggies

  dip is never a bad idea

• Whipped Feta with Parsley and Lemon

  if time is a construct, then dip is also salad

• French Onion Soup Mix and Sour Cream (<- also from the back of the box)

  stop trying to do stuff and just hang out

---

Thank you, as always, for your support. I keep going because you keep reading.

One-time contributions/tips are also welcome via Venmo @eatwellenough.

You can also give a gift subscription, hit that “Like” button, share, forward, follow on Instagram (@eatwellenough), or otherwise spread the word about this project.

Leave a comment or drop a line at eatwellenough@gmail.com