I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve. An unbearable sense of anticipation waiting to see what presents are waiting under the tree…for ME! Now multiply that feeling times 400 thousand million, and that’s REALLY how I feel right now.

Why?

You guessed it…my baby is going to be born, TOMORROW! She is still breech, hasn’t budged into the ‘birthing’ position, not even once, so we are having a c-section tomorrow. It is a weird feeling knowing the exact moment you can expect to go into ‘labor.’ It’s weird to be slowly getting everything ready, like cleaning the house, packing our bags, cleaning out the fridge. Sure, there is a thought that ‘I could go into labor at any second, and our slow moving will turn into frantic panic.’ But at this point, that is not the case. Although, my bag is packed, the babies bag is packed, and my husband, well, he can always drive home and grab a change of clothes. So really I guess the panic that may come over us, if I went into labor, probably wouldn’t be too bad.

We are going on a date tonight. Commemorating the last night as a family of 2. This is also weird, that we are able to plan a last date night. I don’t know, the whole planned c-section thing is just so not what the movies told me having a baby would be like :) I always envisioned a crazy, fast, painful car ride to the hospital with me yelling ‘you did this to me’ at my husband as he tries to safely get me to the hospital. And as of now, everything is calm, peaceful, very enjoyable. Which frankly, seems like a great way to prepare for having our lives change, FOREVER! So I’ll take it!

These last few weeks I have been CRAVING spinach artichoke dip. I have had it at least once a week, if not more. Whether I have ordered it in a restaurant, bought some frozen junk from the store and heated it up, or made this delicious version. May I just say this version is my favorite? I made a HUGE batch and we ate some for dinner and I froze some for us to eat another night when we are tired and have been feeding, burping and changing a baby all day long.

My favorite things to dip in spinach dip are apples, carrots and tortilla chips, so, that’s what I did. It was the PERFECT dinner! And I felt somewhat ‘healthy’ since this isn’t loaded with cream, or mayo, or even sour cream. I used non fat greek yogurt and low fat cream cheese to add some creaminess. The white wine gives it an aroma that is to die for. Sure, you can use frozen spinach, but I always find that using frozen spinach leaves too much excess moisture in the dip, which makes it not taste as good. So i opt to use fresh spinach and chop it. But frozen artichokes work, as long as you thaw them and drain them. Enjoy!

Makes enough for about 6-8 people as an appetizer
4 ounces low fat cream cheese (room temperature)
1/2 cup non fat greek yogurt (or sour cream)
1/4 cup white wine
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (I always use part skim as opposed to whole milk)
1 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided
1 tsp salt
2 tsp minced garlic (3 cloves)
1/2 tsp black pepper
5 cups chopped fresh spinach
1 cup chopped artichoke hearts (canned or frozen- if using frozen, make sure they are thawed and drained)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Using a hand mixer, mix the cream cheese, greek yogurt, white wine, salt, pepper and garlic. Add in the cheese (leave about 1/4 cup of parmesan to top the dip), then the spinach and artichokes. Mix just until combined then spoon into baking dish/dishes.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the top cheese is browned. You can stir it all together to make sure it is all mixed and creamy, or you can serve it as it.