Cranberry Salsa Dip w/ Non-fat Cream Cheese

Notes: This beautifully-colored dip is refreshingly delicious with a surprising mixture of flavors! You can prepare this on crackers for your guests, or let your guests serve themselves. To prepare yourself, spread 1/2 teaspoon of cream cheese on each cracker and top each with 1 teaspoon salsa.

We have found that Philadelphia Brand Free is the best tasting fat-free cream cheese. You may also want to experiment with some of the reduced-fat cream cheese varieties, some of which are very tasty.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups fresh cranberries (1 12-oz. bag with soft/damaged berries discarded), rinsed, drained
• 2 tbsp. fresh ginger, finely grated
• 4 green onions, minced (1/2 cup)
• 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 2 small jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced (about 2 tbsp.)
• 1 8-oz pkg. fat-free cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar A few fresh cranberries (for garnish)
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro Sprigs of cilantro (for garnish)

Directions:

Rinse, drain, and pick over the cranberries, discarding all that are soft or bruised. Place them in your food processor and pulse until finely chopped, but not mushy. Transfer to a bowl. Stir in green onions, jalapenos, sugar, cilantro, ginger, and lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours to allow the flavors to blend and develop. If you taste this dip immediately after making it, you will find the flavor too sharp and tart. The flavor mellows and sweetens over time.

To serve, arrange the salsa around the block of cream cheese. Garnish the top of the cream cheese with cilantro and cranberries.

Makes 2 cups or 16 portions (each with 1 tbsp. salsa and 1/2 tbsp. cream cheese). Each portion provides about 25 calories, 1 gram protein, 0 grams fat, 5 grams carbohydrate, 0.5 gram fiber.