Epically Doctored Up Artichoke Dip

I'm grateful to have a foodie friend, who also wanted to avoid malls on Black Friday.  We managed to motivate ourselves yesterday for a trip to a winery and a field trip to Wegman's on the way home to get fixings to make ourselves a nice dinner.  (And as I write this post devouring a wheat carrot muffin from their bakery, I wonder why my life doesn't include more Wegman's field trips.)

Anyways, last night we landed on some bone in pork loin, homemade applesauce, and bacon cabbage reheated in an iron skillet.  And a weight watchers lemon cream pie - (I've altered it some, so maybe I'll post that on a rainy day.)  A last minute addition to up the veggies was 3 artichokes.  They were a game changer.

Anyways, after our trip through the check out with 3 piles - yours, mine, and sharing the cost for dinner - we headed back to my apt to get cooking.  The artichoke dip, a complete last minute brain dump of what we should dip artichokes in when we both kind of abhor mayo, I decided to doctor the heck out of it and made one hell of a dip.  I'll do my best to recall the approximate measurements.  But I would just read through for ideas and generate your own proportions and mix of flavors.

Ingredients:
3 steamed artichokes ready for eating.
Awesome Doctored Artichoke Dip

Ingredients for Dip: (all approximate) 
2 heaping T light Hellman's Mayo
2 garlic cloves roughly chopped
1/4 tsp paprika
1 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp of magic honey that is lime and cayenne infused
1 tsp lemon juice

Directions:
Puree in the immersion blender attachment.  Serve in ramekin.  Top with a sprinkle of paprika.  Devour with artichoke leaves.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Fro Yo aka Crack

Patience while it churns.

Go ahead and judge.  I might
make a hot water bath in
the sink to lick the frozen bowl. 

"Oh hey, is that fro yo in your hair?"  Why yes, maybe I was licking the bowl, beaters, and spoon over the sink...  I am truly not sure how this took so long for me to decide to create, since I've had this ice cream maker for 6 months now, but alas.  It was truly worth the wait.  My only complaint, if I had to make one, is that the cream cheese is clumpy because of my impatience to wait for it to warm to room temp.  But really, not a bad day if lumps of cream cheese in fro yo is your biggest complaint...

Ingredients:
1 block reduced fat cream cheese warmed to room temp
1 C fat free plain greek yogurt
1 C pumpkin puree
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 T pumpkin pie spice

Directions:
1. Mix everything.
2. Follow ice cream bowl instructions.  (ie: set up everything and turn it on stir setting before adding batter, and wait until it starts clicking.)

3. Save the majority in a container.
4.  Eat a little in a bowl, though you might need a straw when it's fresh.
5.  Lick the mixing bowl and spoons.  (Be careful your tongue doesn't freeze to the sides. I suggest a sink bath.) 

It's soupy and delicious
out of the ice cream maker.