Sweet Onion Yogurt Dip

I read a lot. I mean, it sort of goes with the English lit territory and I love reading, always have. I think that the only thing that I really miss about working versus being in school is my leisure reading time. I love magazines and I used to think that I wanted to work for a magazine until I interned and found out that reading them is so much more fun than making them (for me anyway). When I moved to Washington I canceled all of my magazine subscriptions except Bon Apetite and Martha Stewart (but I got a few for Christmas so, yippee!). Anyway, my treat to myself at the end of the semester was to get any magazines that I wanted to read on the plane on the way to Houston and I loaded up! On the way back to D.C. there weren't as many that looked interesting to me, the after-effect of my binge I think, but I did get a couple and one of them was Southern Living. I love this magazine. My mom has gotten it for as long as I can remember and I just love it. This month there's a feature called "The Dish on Yogurt" that I was excited about because I love using yogurt to cook with. And, sure enough, there was a recipe called "Sweet Onion Yogurt Dip" that I knew I wanted to try.

Another thing, I'm on locavore hiatus right now. Yup, it turns out that I'm not hardcore enough to spend my winter subsisting on greens from the farmers' market. I love the Dupont Circle farmers' market, it might very well be my favorite thing about living in D.C., but I also love fruit and vegetables year round and I like being warm too. So, for the next couple of months I am going to happily consume my strawberries from Florida and my carrots from California, already chewed into tiny little sticks for me and I'm ok with that. I just can't handle the thought of freezing my toosh off on Sunday mornings while I buy my greens and eggs. I thought that I would go all winter long but what can I say, I am a wuss. On that note, when I went to the grocery store this week I spotted yellow carrots! I'm such a sucker for things like yellow carrots so I bought yellow and orange carrots to eat. According to the nutritional information on the back of the package, they both have the same same amount of vitamins, etc which surprised me. I thought that maybe the orange carrots would have more vitamins than the yellow carrots. The orange carrots taste sweeter than the yellow carrots but I don't know, something in me just loves those yellow carrots. In Texas, Texas A&M University has developed maroon carrots which are kind of cool except that when you peel them they're mostly orange. So unless you eat carrots with the skin on (and I know some people who do) then it's sort of a waste.
The Sweet Onion Yogurt Dip is delicious with vegetables and that's how I've been eating it. It's a cinch to put together, just allot some time for caramelizing the onions.

Sweet Onion Yogurt Dip
(Southern Living, January 2009, pg 111)

1 medium sweet onion, thinly sliced (or you can save yourself a step and finely dice it now)
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp canola oil
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 c plain, lowfat yogurt (I used Fage 2% Greek yogurt)
1/2 c sour cream
1/4 c crumbled feta cheese
1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

1. Cook onion and sugar in hot oil in a large, non-stick skillet over medium low heat, stirring often, 15-20 minutes or until onions are caramel colored. Stir in garlic and cook one minute more. Let cool 5 minutes; chop onions. (This step sort of confused me, which is why I think that you could just as easily finely dice the onions from the get-go??)
2. Stir together caramelized onion mixture, yogurt, and remaining ingredients in a medium bowl. Cover and chill 30 minutes or until ready to serve.

I've been noshing on this dip with veggies all week and loving it!