Spinach Dip

This is  my son Steven's favorite dip.  We usually make it for Thanksgiving, but this year he wanted it for Christmas as well.  I usually double it when I make it for a large group.

Here is the recipe:

Spinach Dip Steven:

2 (10 ounce boxes of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed very dry

1 (16) ounce container of sour cream

1 cup Hellmann's Mayonnaise

1 package Knorr Vegetable soup mix

4 scallions, finely chopped

1 large loaf of pumpernickel or rye bread to cut up and cube and a smaller one to serve the dip in (buy round loaves and don't have them cut)

In a medium bowl, stir the spinach, sour cream, mayonnaise, soup mix and scallions until well blended.  Cover and chill overnight. Cut a hole in the middle of the rye or pumpernickel bread.  Remove the bread from the lid and cut into cubes.  Remove most of the bread from the middle of the bread to form a bowl, and cut into cubes. Cut up the remaining bread and cube. Fill the middle of the bread with the dip.  Serve on a large tray and surround with the bread cubes.  Cover well until ready to serve or the bread will dry out.

Ingredients you will need for the recipe:

 I always make this a day in advance as the dried soup mix needs to soften

Wash the scallions 

and remove the root end (I use a scissor, it is faster and easier than a knife to cut the scallions)

I usually remove the outermost layer of the white because dirt can hide there

Cut the scallions into very thin slices (I cut them right into a plastic container.) I am all for doing as little work as possible, this way you can mix it and them store it in the same bowl until you are ready to serve it.

Add the the soup mix to the scallions

(my son David says he prefers to add the soup mix 

after the our cream and mayonnaise as it's easier to mix

that way.  You can do it either way, it doesn't matter)

Now, take the defrosted spinach in your hand and squeeze it.  Use two hands or a strong fist to get rid of all the excess water.  You want the spinach very dry

This is just some of the water that was removed from one box of spinach

Add the spinach to the scallion mix

Add in the container of sour cream

Add in the cup of mayonnaise (as I said, I hate extra steps, so I just fill the sour cream container half way and that equals the cup of mayonnaise

Stir in, being sure to go all the way to the bottom to mix the soup in well

Mix until well blended and them cover and refrigerate until ready to serve

You can cut the bread into cubes the night before if you want to

 Place the bread on a cutting board.  Take a long serrated bread knife and begin to slice the bread up

 I usually slice the bread into 1-inch slices, 

then cut each slice into 3-4 pieces

 and each piece into cubes

  You can even stack the slices to cube them to save time.

You can store the cubes in the same bag that the bread came in

To make the bread bowl, take the smaller of the two loaves 

and  insert the knife on an angle 

and cut our a circle

Lift up the piece that you cut, 

and remove the middle of the bread 

to hollow out a bowl

Cut the piece you removed from the top and the inside of the bread into cubes

Again, store the cubes in the bag the bread came in 

Wrap the bread in foil until you are ready to use it

When you are ready to serve the dip, place the bread on a round tray lined with doilies

 Fill the bread bowl with the spinach dip and enjoy!

  You can  also serve this with crackers, breadsticks,  snack chips, or whatever you prefer.