Greek Yogurt Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

There are TONS of fruit dip recipes out there, and many are just about as bad nutritionally as the store-bought stuff – one recipe I saw uses nothing more than cream cheese, a full CUP of brown sugar, and vanilla extract to make just a small bowl of dip. Yuck. Fruit is a naturally sweet treat as it is, with most kinds packing lots of its own sugar, and seriously, if you’re going to use a fruit dip that is THAT bad for you, what’s the point of eating the fruit in the first place? Why not just have tacos and ice cream?

But the store bought stuff… whoa, check out the ingredients list for Cream Cheese Fruit Dip from a leading brand:

WATER, CREAM CHEESE (CREAM AND MILK, NON FAT DRY MILK, LOCUST BEAN GUM, GUAR GUM, SODIUM CASEINATE, SALT, LACTIC ACID, CITRIC ACID), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP,SUGAR, LEMON JUICE FROM CONCENTRATE,MODIFIED CORN STARCH, DISTILLED VINEGAR, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, CULTURED DEXTROSE AND WHEY, SALT, PECTIN, POTASSIUM SORBATE AND SODIUM BENZOATE ADDED AS PRESERVATIVES, ARTIFICIAL COLOR, XANTHAN GUM.

Whaaat? No. Please, don’t buy this stuff, and don’t feed it to your children or your family. Even if it didn’t contain sodium benzoate, a preservative that is known to be very toxic and bad for all – this stuff is just processed junk. Again, it defeats the purpose of eating fruit!

It’s so easy to whip up a fruit dip that is HEALTHY and tastes just the same as this packaged junk you’ll pay $3.49 or so for. And, almost definitely cheaper, too. If you don’t think you can make a healthy fruit dip without all the added garbage and sugar; save and clean out a container of that national-brand store bought fruit dip rather than tossing it out once it’s empty if you have some already – and fill the container with this fast and easy dip recipe and serve to see if anyone can tell the difference. I bet they can’t! Try it!

This recipe is so flexible, too. It would be even lower on calories, and still have that fabulous, sweet, dessert-y flavor if it were made using plain non-fat greek yogurt; which is what I usually buy – it is only made with whole-milk Chobani greek yogurt, which is higher in fat, because I grabbed that one by mistake. Thankfully, the addition of greek yogurt adds some protein to this dip. It’s important for something like a dip – whether it be for veggies, fruit, or something else, to be nutritious because let’s face it, most of us are going to have more than that teensy two-tablespoon serving size. If you have some other type of greek yogurt in hand and want a dip with even more flavor, try it and I’m sure it would work great! Vanilla, blueberry, strawberry, there are so many possibilities! I also ended up splitting my dip into halves and spicing one bowl of it with cinnamon – that option is delicious with fall fruits that pair well with cinnamon – think pears, apples, and the like! Yum! For me, the simple, sweet and creamy flavor and texture of this dip as-is is delightful, but you could also add a touch of vanilla or other things to change up the flavor. Experiment! Change up the proportion of cream cheese to yogurt to reach your desired consistency and flavor. Just please don’t eat that store-bought crap – the standard American diet (SAD) is sad in more ways than one; and eating healthy, and feeding healthy foods to your family, your friends, and yourself, is not about weight or fitness or any of that; it’s simply about living healthfully, because let’s face it, lots of the “foods” (if we can even call them that), our government allows food companies to place on our store shelves are about as healthy as drinking bleach. Okay, I’m exaggerating, but really. Make this dip and then chill out and allow some Netflix documentaries on this topic to blow your mind as you nibble on your fruit. So many diseases, cancers and other serious problems can be avoided by making small, simple and easy changes to the things you put in your mouth. Put good in, get good out! 😉

Because the greek yogurt in this dip helps to kick the nutrition up a notch and adds some protein, too – you don’t have to feel so bad about adding a touch of sugar if you do want to make it a bit sweeter to suit your individual tastes. (For me, it didn’t need any, but Stevia would probably work very well here, too!) I also used neufatel / reduced-fat cream cheese in this recipe. This dip would be wonderful as a fruit-pizza sauce or a dressing to toss your yummies with in a fruit salad or fruit – jello salad, too! You could also thicken it a bit by tweaking the ratios of cream cheese to yogurt; or by simply allowing it to firm up a bit in the refrigerator, and it would be wonderful spread on a bagel, etc. for breakfast. So many ideas and possibilities – and checkout the differences in the nutrition!! Store-bought cream cheese fruit dip, even the “fat free” variety which has even MORE harmful artificial ingredients; has 10 grams of sugar per serving; compared to about 2 for this dip, depending on how much pineapple juice is used!

Next up, if you have spring fever in early February like I do, you’ll love the recipe for Strawberry-Pineapple banana bread I’ll be posting, also made using greek yogurt!