Smoked Salmon Dip

My grandma turned 90 last Thursday, and we had her weekend birthday celebration this past Saturday and Sunday. My whole family was in town for it which was so fun. Saturday night we had a party for her at my mom's house, then yesterday we all went to brunch. For the past several years my grandma has had a happy hour party for her birthday...drinks and appetizers. We all bring a few things, and it's usually quite the feast. This year was no exception. My uncle made stuffed mushrooms, my mom made a seven layer dip, artichoke dip, and a crab spread, there was a cheese and cracker tray, a veggie tray, and I made baked brie, two kinds of hummus, and this smoked salmon dip. Jealous you weren't there, aren't you? Oh, and since I can't drink I made a yummy punch with ginger ale, white grape juice, and pineapple juice. When I'm not pregnant, I may make it with some vodka or Malibu.

Anyway, back to the dip recipe. I saw it in the March issue of Cooking Light and thought it sounded awesome. I had originally planned on doing baked brie and prosciutto wrapped asparagus for the party (yes, we start planning early), but when I saw this I decided to skip the asparagus (although if you've never had prosciutto wrapped asparagus, I highly recommend you try it) and make the smoked salmon dip instead. It was super easy and super yummy. The husband and I just about finished up what was left for dinner last night.

Smoked Salmon Dip
(8-ounce) tub light cream cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
4 ounces smoked salmon, chopped, divided
Dill sprigs (optional)

1. Combine first 3 ingredients in a food processor. Add half of salmon; process until smooth. Fold in remaining half of salmon. Garnish with dill sprigs, if desired.

*****

I love fresh dill, and any excuse to use it is a good one with me. And Trader Joe's had organic fresh dill for super cheap, so that's even better. I didn't use tub cream cheese, I used a regular block and it worked fine. The color of the dip is really pretty after the salmon is processed with the cream cheese. I had a hard time getting my chopped salmon folded in evenly, but it didn't seem to matter too much. And normally I'm not much of a garnisher, but I did this time since it was a special occasion. Wish I would have taken a picture of it because I even used a fancy bowl for it. You know those fancy bowls...you got them as a wedding present and now they sit in the back of a cabinet and maybe get used once a year. I used Kashi's TLC 7-grain crackers with it, and they were really good.