I just love all things summer and that means taking advantage of the fresh garden produce that graces our presence during these months. We’ve been making a variety of vegetable dips these last few months and they hit the spot.

When cooking for large groups, I often master healthier, low fat options by substituting low fat cheeses, sour cream, and always adding twice as many fresh vegetables (if the recipe calls for it), but it’s even better if it’s practically all veggies.

Making dips is such a great way to learn to experiment with flavors, and all of our children have mastered culinary creativity in the dips they create.

One of our favorites is this Southern Caviar recipe, which brings back such special memories. My mother- in- law has been gone for years now, but she served this the very first time I ever met her, and it’s made for all our family get-togethers.

Finding out the history of a family recipe is always fun and our aunts shared so many stories about how that recipe traveled from  Ga to MN to Wi and I brought it back to NC.

Do you know the origin of favorite family recipes? If not, find out, and pass the recipe down through the generations. I have a whole post on creating a family recipe album with a template.

Enjoy this guilt free recipe packed with flavor. It’s a keeper (and honestly, did not look like one I would enjoy when I first saw it, but one bite and I was in love. 🙂