Artichoke, Sun-Dried Tomato & Goat Cheese Dip

This past weekend was the beginning of the very busy Birthday Season at the Baking Bookworm abode. For the next three months all five of us have birthdays -- that's a whole lotta cake, birthday candles (oh MY!) and parties! 

To officially open Birthday Season we hosted two parties this weekend to celebrate Brad and Boy 2's birthdays which are only two days apart.  Boy 2 had a bunch of his friends over on Saturday night for a very LOUD get together with his 13 year old brethren.  The following day we hosted a house-full of family (which was almost as loud as the first party) and began with a swim at my parents' pool.  We try to tire out the small humans as much as possible and two hours in the pool seemed to do the trick.

Both parties were a lot of fun and, of course, had a lot of food.  The thirteen year olds had very basic requests (snack foods, pop, hot dogs and burgers) but for our family get-together I opted for more of a BBQ and salad affair which of course means that I used my family as culinary guinea pigs.  Sure I used tried-and-true recipes like my very popular Greek Chicken Marinade, Spinach and Strawberry Salad with Maple Balsamic Dressing, Traditional Potato Salad and brownie ice cream sundaes.  But I also wanted to try something new.

As my family sat poolside with the 9 kids in the pool I served this Greek inspired dip along with some veggies.  I still swoon over goat cheese and my love of all things sun-dried tomatoey and artichokey is thankfully still going strong.  When these flavours are combined they made a reeeeally great dip.  It's a bit of a thicker dip so it was perfect for baby carrots and other veggies but with a wee knife you could spread it on baby pitas and crackers too.

I'm thinking that this dip could make a great spread for wraps or, as my sister Jennifer (or was it Jillian?) suggested, using it as a pizza base instead of traditional pizza sauce.  Yum, right?  Picture it if you will -- sliced fresh basil, garden fresh tomatoes, black olives and red onion!  This would make for a totally delicious pizza!  Perhaps I'll save that idea for the next family get together.  Enjoy!

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil -- drained and chopped
1/3 cup marinated artichoke hearts -- drained and chopped
8 oz package of cream cheese, at room temperature
8 oz goat cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp. sour cream
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper (or to taste)
1/4 cup fresh basil -- chopped

Place all ingredients into a food processor.  Process on low until blended well and mixture is smooth.  Chill in an air-tight container in the fridge for several hours before serving.

Serve with vegetables, crackers or mini pitas.  Keep leftover dip refrigerated for a couple of days. 

Yield: 2 cups