Roasted Garlic & Spinach Dip

When garlic is roasted, it becomes sweet and mellow in flavour. Use roasted garlic paste to add flavour without fat and virtually no calories to soups or salad dressings. In this recipe it updates an all-time favourite dip.

Ingredients
• 1 whole head garlic
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach
• ¼ cup skim milk
• Dash bottled hot pepper sauce
• 1 8-ounce package reduced-fat cream cheese, cut up
• Chopped tomato (optional)
• Assorted vegetable dippers

Directions
1) Peel away outer dry leaves from head of garlic, leaving skin of garlic cloves intact. Cut off pointed top portion of head (about ¼ inch) with a knife, leaving the bulb intact. Place on a double-thick, 12-inch square of foil. Drizzle garlic with the oil. Fold foil to enclose garlic. Bake in a 375°F oven for 20 minutes or until garlic is soft; let garlic cool.
2) Cook spinach according to package directions, except omit salt. Drain well; press out excess liquid.
3) Squeeze pulp from garlic cloves into food processor bowl, discarding skins. Add the drained spinach, milk, hot pepper sauce, and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Cover and process until well combined. Add cream cheese. Cover; process until nearly smooth.
4) Transfer mixture to saucepan. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until heated through.
5) To serve, transfer to serving bowl. If desired, sprinkle with tomato. Serve with vegetables to dip. Makes 8 (¼-cup) servings.

Exchanges: Count one serving as 1 fat (group 7)

FYI: Dip will actually be much 'greener' than the picture depicts!