About this Recipe

Salad greens and raw vegetables,raw nuts and seeds, have always been a major part of our diet here in Grandmother's Kitchen. Our food choices stem from healthy eating habits that we learned as children. Studies are showing that eating habits begin between right from when baby starts to eat.

"We're seeing poor eating habits starting early in life, and they mirror those of older children and adults. Parents and caregivers need to know that eating patterns are set early - between 12 to 24 months. It's crucial to establish the foundation for healthy diets early in life when eating habits and food preferences are being formed," said Kathleen Reidy, DrPH, RD, who heads the Nutrition Science department for Nestlé Infant Nutrition, which conducted the study. "The new findings show how simple changes can make significant improvements in children's diets." Suggestions include serving healthy, nutrition dense foods, that include whole-grain products, low-fat natural yogurts (not the flavored ones with sweeteners) and fresh fruit.

Delicious vegetarian recipes sometimes include raw veggies and having veggies that are already cleaned and chopped in the refrigerator offers you family friendly meal ideas. You don't need to be vegetarian to eat your veggies. What makes it appealing is having a good dip already prepared and some great already cleaned, fresh veggies to munch into. My "tween" age nephews will come home from school and be looking for a snack. Their mom usually has a sealed container in the refrigerator, filled with appealing colorful cut up vegetables that are easy to snack on. They will snack on them even without a dip. It is often about convenience when you are looking for a snack. You will grab the first easy to eat thing you see. Also, as the study says, it is about craving. When your body is accustomed to eating certain foods, that is what it is looking for.

Grandmother's Tips for Creamy Veggie Dip Recipe:

1. When you bring home your veggies, deal with them all at the same time. It is a time saver and you don't end up with as much food waste or the problem of not being in the mood to prepare the vegetables. Just get out your cutting board, fill a sink with cold water and proceed to prep the food. We use either vinegar or thieves food cleaner in our water to wash off any bacteria that is lingering on the veggies and fruit, and allow a 10 minute soak. We add a cup of vinegar to a full sink. We even wash the skins of avocados, oranges and lemons even though you don't eat the skins.

2. You don't need to change the vinegar water with each item. We generally start with lettuce. We also suggest a good lettuce hand spinner to remove the excess moisture, but if you don't have one you can lay the clean leaves out on clean absorbent tea towels. We move onto tomatoes,and anything that has not got obvious dirt on it, like perhaps celery which often has visible dirt showing. Depending how many items we wash, you may need to change the water once, but not usually.

3. We lay everything out onto dry towels and let them air dry. This will keep the veggies longer when you put them into the containers with seal top lids or ziploc bags. If you put wet veggies in, they will discolor and go bad faster.

4. Cut some of the items into ready to eat sizes and put them in their own container. That becomes the 'snacking bin'. Getting into food preparation habits that include what you do with that bag of groceries when you get it home will save you time, make the food more accessible, make for less wasted food and that means less waste of money spent on food.

5. You can alter the recipe and make more or less depending on how many you are feeding. Also, only take out small portions at a time from the refrigerator. The dip will last about 2 weeks refrigerated. Of course, check the expiry dates on the sour cream and yogurt before you make the dip to also determine the life of the dip.

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Ingredients

(Print)

Makes: 3 cups

1 cup sour cream

1 cup unflavored natural yogurt

1 cup mayonnaise (we used Heinze Seriously Good Mayonnaise) with no artificial flavors

2 teaspoons Spike seasoning (contains natural ingredients-great flavor)

3 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon freshly chopped parsley

1/2 teaspoon pure lemon juice

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl stir together the sourcream, yogurt and mayonnaise.

2. Add the Spike seasoning, salt and Parmesan cheese.

3. Stir in to combine.

4. Stir in the freshly chopped parsley.

5. Stir in the pure lemon juice.

6. Transfer to a container that has a sealing lid and refrigerate until ready to use.

Only use the amount needed when serving, leave the rest refrigerated. Will last one week refrigerated.

Excellent dip with fresh raw veggies, breads and crackers.

ENJOY!

Return to this Creamy Veggie Dip recipe or check out more recipes at Grandmother's Kitchen

You need to like the flavor of the ingredients you are choosing to have a successful dip. There are many brands of mayonnaise and tastes vary. Choose a brand you know that you like the flavor of. It is a third of the recipe so it matters in the end result.

Use a plain unflavored yogurt and use a sour cream that has some fat content in it. These tips will assure a good tasting dip. Although the fresh parsley is not a must, we just love the color it adds and you are sneaking in some extra nutrition in a ways that the kids don't even notice.

We have done posts before and people wonder what Spike Seasoning is. Spike is an all natural blend combining 37 flavorful herbs, spices and vegetables. Gayelord Hauser, the Internationally acclaimed gourmet nutritionist, is the creator of this amazing seasoning. It is the favorite seasoning we use in Grandmother's Kitchen for dip recipes. You can substitute other seasonings, but again we suggest reading the label. If you are going to be serving your family all these healthy vegetables, it would be good to choose a seasoning that contains only natural ingredients as well.