Happy Tuesday! I hope you are off to a great start this week! This week we have such a fresh, tasty and easy recipe, its making my mouth water just thinking about it! Easy Greek Layer Dip! Honestly this is like a flavor party and you just can’t stop eating it! I promise its super easy and you can customize it to your liking!

But before we begin, I want to thank my very dear friend Maribeth Schmidt for the photography and so much inspiration! She is one of those people that fills up every drop of life with beauty and intention and love, and she thrives on doing good and serving others, starting with her family which is precious to her! So I am so honored to count myself among her friends and that she is using her incredible skills with photography and especially her love of photographing food to help portray the recipes in this blog! If you want to know more about Maribeth or for an inquiry, you can contact her at Maribeth Schmidt Photography.

Ok! Lets begin!

Ingredients:

• 1 Bar of Cream Cheese Softened
• 12 oz Plain Greek Yogurt (I use half a 24oz container)
• 1 t Italian Seasoning
• 1 t Basil
• 1 Clove Minced Garlic
• 1 T Lemon Juice
• 1 16 oz tub of hummus (I use plain or “original”)
• ½ red onion, diced (you can also use yellow or white)
• 8 oz Feta Cheese (I used about 2/3 of it)
• 1 container cherry tomatoes sliced in half (could also chop a medium or large tomato)
• 1 medium cucumber, diced
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• sliced black olives optional

Begin by putting your softened cream cheese and Greek yogurt in a bowl and blend with a mixer until smooth.

Throw in your Italian Seasoning, basil, minced garlic and lemon juice, and mix.

As a side note, you could also substitute sour cream for the Greek Yogurt if you needed to. But the Greek yogurt has such a special texture and taste that is simply amazing!

Once it is mixed, spread the mixture in the bottom of a 9×13 pan.

Next, dollop the hummus on top of the Greek yogurt/cream cheese layer.

Gently with a thin spatula or a butter knife, spread the hummus layer over the first layer. Because both layers are very soft, you simply need to spread the hummus a little more carefully so as to keep them separate layers rather than mixing them.

Now take your crumbled feta, and sprinkle over the hummus. And then add on your tomatoes (I slice cherry tomatoes (they are so cute and cheerful!) and then add on your chopped onion, your diced cucumber and if you want, sliced black olives. (I’m sure there are even more items you could add, these are just the ones I use)

And then you drizzle some olive oil over the top. And Voila!

Doesn’t that look scrumptious? But now you need some dippers…

Fresh veggies are perfect for this… carrots, celery, nice slices of cucumber…

Pita chips… and/or pita bread…

You can serve it alongside some beautiful Kalamata olives and maybe some artichoke hearts.

True story… this year I tried Kalamata olives for the first time… they are amazing!

On a side note, I learned that olives are actually considered a fruit. Olive trees live on average about 300-600 years, and there is an olive tree on the Isle of Crete that is 4000 years old, still producing fruit! The largest producer of olives is Spain. And here in the US olive orchards can be found in several states but primarily California, Arizona, and Texas. Hippocrates called olive oil “the great therapeutic”.

Yum! I will order the Greek Dip Platter Please! Won’t you pull up a chair and share it with me?

We’ll talk and laugh and eat and enjoy a nice long repast!

I made this for New Years Eve this year and served it alongside some smoked salmon, shrimp, and a meat and cheese platter. I pretty much spent all my time and calories with the Easy Greek Layer Dip! Its like Kapow! Chock full of flavor! And its so easy! You are just layering things! Delicious things that surprise you in every bite! Every part of the recipe has a purpose, a texture and or a flavor they bring to this amazing delightful dish! The lemon, the garlic, the hummus, the feta… every single item brings its own voice to this rich chorus of flavor!

Its like this big beautiful world! We are all different, made with different talents, different ways we perceive, ways we like to communicate, but when we come together our differences can play off one another beautifully! Just like the tomato will never ever be confused for the feta cheese, both are exquisitely delicious in their own right and yet fantastic together as well! Its a beautiful thing! I am glad to come to this table with you, my friend! We are all different, perfectly made for our own purpose in life, and that makes this life absolutely delicious!

I hope you have a fantastic week! Stay warm and safe if your roads are slippery! Maybe consider whipping up an Easy Greek Layer Dip and invite some friends over! What a pleasant way to spend a winter evening!

I’ll be back Friday for another Fashion Friday!

Love Always,

Amy

In diversity, there is beauty and there is strength.   ~Maya Angelou