Here’s a wonderful, unusual dip recipe. It has the tartness of cranberries, with the zest of jalapeno and cilantro. It’s an amazing surprise on the appetizer table. I replaced the 1.5 cups sugar with about 3/4 cup sugar substitute. I skipped the cream cheese, which lowered the calories considerably. Try it on celery!
Time: 15 minutes prep + 4 hours refrigeration
Ingredients:
12 ounce package fresh cranberries
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 small jalapeno pepper
1 ¼ cup sugar
¼ heaping teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Dash kosher salt
2, 8-ounce packages whipped cream cheese (use a mixer to whip the cheese just before serving)
Chips (or veggies such as celery)
Directions:
Chop cranberries in a food processor.- Cut up your green onion, cilantro and jalapeno pepper into small pieces.
- Mix all ingredients (except cream cheese and chips) in a bowl, cover and store in the fridge for at least four hours. The sugar needs some time to soak into the cranberries and break up their bitter taste.
- When you are ready to serve, spread cream cheese on a platter.
- Pour cranberry mixture over the cream cheese.
- Serve with chips, celery or your favorite dippable ingredients.
Per serving (1 tablespoon on 4 chips):
Calories 47, Fat 2 g, Carbohydrate 6 g, Potassium 63 mg
Recipe adapted from Jean Eppler of Fargo, N.D.
Mary Tvedt is a certified diabetes educator and has managed the Diabetes Care Center at Wyoming Medical Center for the past seven years. She has a bachelor’s degree in foods and human nutrition with a minor in child development and family science from North Dakota State University. If you have concerns about diabetes talk to your doctor. To learn more about services at the Diabetes Care Center, call (307) 577-2592.
The Pulse 