spinach and artichoke dip

For my sister's birthday party, I decided to make some spinach and artichoke dip to go with the sandwiches my mom was putting together. I looked at a few different recipes, but decided on this one because it didn't involve a ton of ingredients and seemed pretty simple to put together. Rather than using a food processor, as the directions call for, I just chopped up the garlic and artichokes and mixed everything in a bowl. It seemed to go over really well - even with people who generally don't like spinach and artichokes!

Sorry, no pictures this time! My changes are included (***).

Spinach Artichoke Dip
Recipe courtesy Juan-Carlos Cruz/Food Network

Ingredients...

1 box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 cup light sour cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella
8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese, softened
4 cloves garlic, crushed **I chopped it
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce, plus more as needed **I didn't have any, so I just left it out
1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained
Carrot sticks, celery sticks or baked tortilla strips, for serving**I served with pita chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Squeeze all excess liquid from spinach, place in a food processor with sour cream, Parmesan, 1/2 cup of the mozzarella, the cream cheese, garlic, pepper and hot sauce. **I just mixed in a bowl, making sure the garlic was finely chopped.

Process until just blended but still slightly lumpy. Add artichokes and pulse to form a chunky mixture. **Again - I just made sure the artichokes were chopped small and mixed them in. Place in a 1-quart baking dish. Top with remaining mozzarella. Bake until bubbly, about 30 minutes. Serve with carrot sticks, celery sticks or baked tortilla strips.