Layered Dip

Who doesn't love a good dip - and especially a healthy(ish) one!

This recipe is simple and you may have the ingredients in your fridge already! That's how I came up with this simple recipe - I just used ingredients that I already had in my fridge!

What you need:

• Chips for dipping (I recommend Tostito Restaurant Style Tortilla Chips)

• Salsa

• Sour Cream or Plain Greek Yogurt

• Plain Cream Cheese

• Tostitos Salsa Con Queso Medium

• Fresh Cilantro

Directions:

1. Start with the base layer. Mix half and half of the cream cheese with the greek yogurt or sour cream together. You can do this in the serving bowl since it will help you see the portions to add. Smooth it out.

2. Next add the salsa, lightly dripping it onto the cream layer. The key is light because you don't want it to mix. Completely cover the white layer.

3. Add the cheese just like you did with the salsa, lightly covering the salsa layer.

4. Wash & chop the cilantro and cover the cheese with it. It adds a nice fresh herb taste so go hard with it if you like the taste!

5. Have your chips in a serving bowl beside the dip & enjoy!

Health Benefits

This recipe is not the healthiest dip out there, but depending on the ingredients you choose, it very well may not be the unhealthiest dip either.

Tostito Restaurant Style Tortilla Chips

As we all know, too much salt is hard on our bodies, but we do still require a small amount of salt to function healthily. Salt is a natural mineral that adds abundant flavour to our foods. It contains a nutrient called iodine, which is essential for your thyroid hormones (thyroxine & triiodothyronine) to be produced.

This is controlled by the pituitary gland, located in the brain. These hormones control our metabolism, helping to keep it stable. Our metabolism's job is to take what we eat and drink, and turn that into energy to fuel us.

Salsa

Depending on the type of salsa you choose, it varies in ingredients. But one ingredient is most likely going to be part of your salsa choice - tomatoes! Tomatoes contain many nutrients, but we will discuss one today. Tomatoes contain an antioxidant called lycopene, which is what gives tomatoes their red colour. Antioxidants help your body fight off harmful free-radicals to keep you feeling healthy and strong! Free-radicals are unstable atoms that can cause harm to our cells. To keep our cells healthy, we need a healthy working metabolism (good thing we just learnt why that is important!).

Plain Greek Yogurt

Greek yogurt is a dairy product made from milk, which is then drained and concentrated into that creamy thick texture containing less moisture than regular yogurt. Greek yogurt contains potassium, which helps keep your sodium levels in check, so if your worried about eating a few too many of those Tostito chips, don't!

Cream Cheese

Cream cheese contains a small amount of protein. Protein is responsible for repairing cells in the body. After everything we learnt above, this is just another piece of the puzzle to a healthy body!

Tostitos Salsa Con Queso Medium

This dip contains tomatoes & salt, so more of the added health benefits as we mentioned above!

Cilantro

Cilantro is a delicious and nutritious herb used to add remarkable flavour to your dish. Adding more natural flavours to your meals may help reduce the use of unnatural sauces for flavour. As we know from above, too much salt isn't good, so adding cilantro to season your recipes may stop you from reaching that salt shaker. Keeping a balanced salt intake is key to good health!

Let me know if you make this recipe and message me on instagram of a picture of your creation!

Picture Credits:

Thyroxine Molecule - Shutterstock