Recipe for a Super Saturday and a Delightful Dip

Recipe for a Delightful Summer Saturday

1. Go to Military Tone that is (finally) not cancelled.

2. Get all prettied up and go on an hour and a half road trip to London, city that you loved and lived for five years. Eat carrots, cucumbers, fresh strawberries and a fibre one 100 calorie bar on the way there.

3. Go shopping and successfully use your first groupon at Old Navy, buy coconut sugar to use in recipes in your new Biggest Loser dessert cookbook and fancy sea salt at Winners, and a grad gift for your cousin and impulse-buy fancy mints at HomeSense.

4. Meet up with a university friend (and feel old for meeting up with a university friend) at Loblaws to follow the President’s Choice Summer Tour, be a little disappointed that Galen Weston wasn’t there, but enjoy your free (adorable) mini pink lemonade ice cream cone, sparkling cranberry pomegranate juice and mini sausage on a bun, and have an amazing time catching up.

5. Decide that it’s a hot day and that the mini cone just wasn’t enough and go for AMAZING tart frozen yogurt with loads of fruit, some cool passion fruit juice ball thingys, and just a few Reese’s Pieces, 1 piece of chocolate, and one slice of chocolate-covered banana.

6. Say good bye, drive home, and be hungry when you get there. Don’t know what to eat because you feel like you’ve sort of been eating all day, but yet haven’t really had a full meal. Decide on this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Even though you’ve had fro yo already, clearly, you still need dessert, so make a relatively healthy but refreshing banana chocolate smoothie (1/2 frozen chopped banana, ice, 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, cocoa powder and Splenda).

8. Sheepishly admit you got sunburned, berate yourself, and tell yourself to do better next time.

That was the Saturday recipe, now onto the dip. What I am about to share with you my friends, has to be pretty much my favourite dip of all time. It’s always a huge hit whenever I make it. It may take a little time (chopping the onions and then caramelizing them), but it is SO worth it! If you like the kind of dip you make with Lipton Onion Soup Mix and Sour Cream, you will LOVE this…it is 10 000 times better (that is a fact)! And waaaay better for you than Helluva Good French Onion Dip (although that stuff is pretty tasty).

Surprise, surprise, this is a Hungry Girl recipe….so you know it’s gotta be good! I made it last night for today’s family Fathers’ Day BBQ. I’m planning a mostly make-ahead menu since we’re going to a concert in the afternoon then coming back here for a BBQ. The only thing we’ll have to do is throw the meat on the grill. Like all dips, it’s better if you can make this one ahead to let flavours blend. It’s great with veggies, crackers, chips, or by the spoonful (I won’t tell)!

Hungry Girl’s Sweet Caramelized Onion Dip

2 large sweet onions, chopped
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
1/2 cup fat-free mayonnaise
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. fat-free cream cheese, room temperature
1 tbsp. light whipped butter or light buttery spread (I used Becel light)

1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

Heat butter in a large pan over medium-high heat on the stove. Once butter has coated the bottom of the pan, add onions, salt, and cayenne pepper. Onions may be piled high in the pan, but they’ll cook down. Sauté for 10 minutes, stirring often.

Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for an additional 25 – 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are browned and caramelized.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine sour cream, mayo, and cream cheese. Whisk until smooth. Then refrigerate.

Once onions are caramelized, add mustard and vinegar to the pan. Continue to cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Once cool, add onions to the large bowl and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to combine.

Serve at room temperature with your favorite veggies, chips, and/or crackers for dipping.

 

This is what the onions should look like when you add the balsamic and Dijon….and they smell AMAZING right now!

 

 

 

 

With summer BBQ season coming up, this is a great recipe to have in your roster. Make it….seriously! DO IT!

Happy Father’s Day to all the great Dads out there!