I LOVE Queso

I have a confession... I have been terribly delinquent in my cooking this week. To be honest, I've made nothing. Nada. Zero. Zilch. It's been one of those weeks that just got away from me (although, in my defense, I did offer to cook dinner yesterday but someone else ended up doing...we'll return to this later) and I'm beyond happy that tomorrow is Friday. I promise to make up for my delinquency this weekend though. I have a whole Saturday of baking planned...I'm talking Valentine's Day goodies, Super Bowl party treats, and a few fun meals in between! This blog is going to be lousy with recipes for February (I even get to do a birthday cake next weekend)! To get things off to a good start, I made some whole wheat, rosemary pizza dough tonight (currently in the fridge letting the yeast take it's course). It's my first foray into pizza dough. If it turns out, I'll share the recipe. If not, we'll pretend like it didn't happen. Until then, I'm going to share what was made for me yesterday. Even though I wasn't the puppet master behind last night's recipe, I was the finder of it and have been waiting for months to test it out so it seems selfish not to share it with Super Bowl weekend on the horizon. 


Backstory: Being from Oklahoma, I find myself on a constant search for east coast Mexican food that lives up to my standards. It's been difficult to say the least. In the past two years, I've struck out more often than not. TF shares my pain, as does Sister, and one or both of them usually accompanies me on these tasting expeditions. One way that TF and I have found to lessen our pain is through make-at-home meals. Not only are they healthier (although sometimes not much) and cheaper, but at least we know we won't be disappointed. Dipfest (consisting of little dishes of refried black beans, guac, salsa, and queso) is our happy meal. Last night, without any prompting, TF created part of this delightful meal with a new queso and fun crostinis a la Whole Foods for dipping. We'll likely tweak this recipe in the future for a little more spice, but it was a good first run.


Queso Blanco

Courtesy of A Gilt Nutmeg

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp. canola or vegetable oil
• 1 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped
• 12 oz white American cheese, shredded or chopped
• 4 oz Monterey jack cheese, shredded
• 1/4-3/4 cup milk
• 1 tomato, seeded and finely diced

Preparation

1. Heat oil in pan and saute the jalapeno pepper over medium heat until softened
2. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the cheeses and 1/4 cup milk to the pan
3. Stir with a wooden spoon until almost fully melted, then add the tomato and continue stirring
4. Add milk until you’ve reached the desired texture. [Recipe cautions against adding more than an extra half cup or so to ensure cheese retains flavor]
5. Garnish with tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, and raw jalapeno, if you dare

Since I wasn't cooking, I apparently turned off my brain and thus failed to document the finished product. Fear not. Because I hate recipes without visuals, here's the photo that caught my eye to begin with. In a word, YUMMY.

Also courtesy of A Gilt Nutmeg