Cheesy Garlic Artichoke Dip

Hello. Remember me? I used to do a little blogging once upon a time. I wish I still had time for it, but the truth is it's just not a priority for me anymore. I do, however, like using this little ol' blog of mine as a personal recipe arsenal.

So what prompted this one post after years of blog nothingness? Well, the hubster and I have a favorite artichoke dip recipe that we've made for a few years now. It's a favorite of ours when we decide to have a date night in. We put the kiddos to bed, and whip up a batch of this cheesy, creamy, garlicy (that's a word, right?) dip and pick a random movie from Netflix. Well folks, tonight is one of those nights. We haven't made this dip for quite a while, so we were both pretty excited. Because, well, it's delicious. So I hopped on Pinterest, found the recipe that I had pinned, clicked on it, and let out an audible gasp... IT WAS GONE. The blog I pinned it from, a blog called Readable Eatables, is apparently no longer in existence. 15 minutes of frantic Googling and Pinterest seaching yielded absolutely no results, so I pulled what I could from my memory, and I think I got it right.

I simply couldn't let the blogosphere be without this little gem. Seriously you guys. It's so good. So here I am, making a short blogging comeback so that everyone can share in the deliciousness. I m2ade a few changes from the original recipe, so I'm going to post the recipe that I make, because I think it's even better than the original.

What you'll need:

2 - 8oz bricks of cream cheese
16oz container of sour cream
8oz bag of shredded mozzarella cheese (original recipe was cheddar)
5 cloves of garlic, pressed
2 tbsp butter
1 can of artichokes, chopped (original recipe was 2 cans. I like 1, hubby likes 2)
5 or 6 slices of havarti cheese (Optional. I added this, it was not in the original recipe)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix cream cheese, sour cream, and artichokes in a mixing bowl.

In small frying pan, melt butter on medium heat and add garlic. Saute until garlic is tender. Then add it to the cream cheese/sour cream/artichoke mixture.

Add the mozzarella cheese. Stir (I use a hand mixer) until well blended. Pour mixture into an oven safe casserole dish and bake for about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and top with havarti slices. (That last step is optional, but delicious.) Bake for 5 more minutes or until the havarti is melted.

Enjoy with bread, crackers, veggies, chips, you name it! Our preference is to use lavosh crackers, but I think that might be a regional thing, and it might not be available everywhere.

And here's a picture. I'll be the first to admit that I'm no food photographer. I took it with my iPad, so forgive the terrible photo.