Punt the Velveeta for a Super Bowl of Queso!

That’s right.  It’s Super Bowl time again.  Even though Hubby’s two least favorite teams will be playing, I have a feeling we’ll still be watching it, regardless of how much he rants about the Patriots.  Yes, we live in Massachusetts, and my husband hates the Patriots.  And although he also hates the New York Giants, his favorite team is the Jets, who are also from New York.  I don’t really get it.  I have a feeling it has a lot more to do with uniform colors than anything else.  Anyway, enough about the sport, let’s talk food.  More specifically, let’s talk Chili con Queso… or more commonly known as just Queso.  I have to admit that I love the stuff.  Warm, creamy, spicy, cheesy, what’s not to love, right?  I’ll answer that for you.  Velveeta.  Velveeta is a creepy, ‘cheese food’, product that requires no refrigeration and never goes bad.  Honestly, I’m surprised it even works as fish bait.  Unfortunately, probably every queso you’ve ever eaten was made from it, or something very similar.  Well, no more.  I wasn’t sure I could actually make a dip that would have the same creamy consistency using real cheese, but I did, and it is amazing. 

Here’s what you’ll need:   

18 oz. grated cheese (about 5-ish cups)
1 ½ cups whole milk
2 – 3 jalapenos, diced
½ onion, diced
2 – 3 tomatoes, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 Tablespoon)
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoons chili powder
½ cup cilantro, chopped
¼ cup sour cream

The first thing you’ll want to do is dice everything up.  Then, in a sauce pan over medium low heat, melt 2 Tablespoons of butter and throw in your jalapeno and onion. 

Sprinkle over the salt, pepper, and chili powder. 

Stir the mixture and allow it to begin to sweat off some of its liquid.  After about 5 minutes, stir in the garlic.

Continue to cook the mixture for another 5 minutes or so, stirring frequently.  While it’s cooking you can go ahead and grate the cheese.  It’ll be much easier to do if you put it in the freezer for 15 minute or so first.  It’s very important to grate your own cheese for this.  The pregrated stuff doesn’t melt as well.  It’s also important to use cheeses that melt very easily.  I used about equal parts of Monterey jack and mild cheddar.

Once the vegetable mixture has cooked down and everything is mostly soft, add the diced tomatoes. 

Stir them around just long enough to cook off some of the moisture.  About 2 minutes.  Sprinkle the flour over the top of the mixture. 

Stir it in until it is completely incorporated and you no longer see any dry flour.  The mixture will be thick and pasty. 

Cook it for about a minute, stirring constantly, and then pour in the milk. 

Stir until the mixture become thick and creamy and comes to a boil.  You might need to increase the heat a little for that.  Once it’s come to a full boil, turn off the heat and throw in the cilantro.

Stir that in and allow the mixture to cool slightly before beginning to add the cheese.  There are two very important rules you need to follow in order to ensure you’ll end up with a nice creamy dip and not an oil clumpy mess.  First, it CANNOT be boiling when the cheese goes in.  Second, the cheese has to go in very, VERY slowly.  You want to add maybe ¼ cup at a time. 

Then stir it in and allow it to fully incorporate before sprinkling in the next addition.  If you have strings like this,

It’s not ready for another addition yet.  It should be smooth and creamy, with no stretchy, stingy, anything.  If the mixture cools too much, you might want to turn the burner back on to a very low heat, but be careful.  If it gets too hot, it will turn grainy and will eventually break.  If at any time, you start to see it becoming a grainy texture, remove it from the heat immediately and stir in a couple of ice cubes and a tablespoon of milk.  If you’re lucky, that will save it for you, but no guarantee.  Remember, low and slow is your friend here.  Continue to stir in the cheese until it’s all incorporated completely, then add the sour cream. 

Stir that in.  The heat will slowly allow it to melt and disperse into the mixture.  There you have it.  Creamy, delicious queso made without using any processed, cheese food product.  If you have a way to keep it warm at a very low temperature, that will keep the consistency the best.  If not, just cover it and serve it in small portions that can be eaten before it cools completely.  Serve with your favorite tortilla chips. 

Creamy, slightly spicy, and delicious.  The perfect accompaniment for the Super Bowl.

So, Pats or Giants?  Who are you rooting for?     

'Tis the season... for football, that is!

I don’t know what your house is like on Sundays, but at my house, during the season, football is on the tv from the time I get up, until the time I go to bed.  Preshow talk, post show talk, fantasy football talk, oh yeah, and the games themselves.  Hubby’s slightly obsessed.  Especially when he’s winning in his fantasy football league.  When I say obsessed, I don’t mean he dances around in the snow in the stands wearing nothing but shorts and paint for the camera, and therefore the rest of the world, to see.  He does, however, scare the bejesus out of me and Otto when there’s a touchdown or a fumble and he jumps out of his chair and yells at the top of his lungs.  Personally, I’d rather cook than watch football, so why not make hubby something to munch on while watching the game.  This snack mix is perfect.  It’s tasty, and it vacuums up easily in case of touchdown or fumble or some other exciting event. 

Here’s what you need:

6 cups Crispix cereal
1 cup shredded oats cereal
1 cup mini crackers
1 cup plain pretzels
1 cup sesame sticks
1 cup honey mustard & onion pretzels
1 cup baked cheese crunchies
1 cup cheese and garlic croutons
4 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon season salt
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon black pepper

Whew!  That’s a lot of ingredients.  Now, these are just the things I used.  Feel free to substitute whatever you want, really.  Just try to keep the proportions the same.  I don’t like my snack mix to all taste the same, so I like to combine plain things that I’ll be seasoning with things that are flavored.  Keeps the tongue from getting bored while munching.  Ahem… not Seeley, not going there.  You’ll just need one specialized tool for this project. 

No, this is not an advertisement for Whole Foods.  You need a paper bag.  It makes for easy coating and easy cleanup.  So, in goes the crispix.

Next the pretzels.  They’re a little stubborn about cooperating in the measuring cup, so I just mounded them up. 

In they go.

Next come the sesame sticks.

Then the baby crackers.

And last but not least, the shredded oats cereal. 

Yes!  I finally got an action shot!  Seeley and I do a little dance when we get a cool picture like that that actually turns out.  Well, I do anyway.  I can't really speak for how much dancing goes on in Seeley's kitchen.  Ok, so everything’s in the bag now. 

 

Next, melt the butter over low heat.  Pour in the Worcestershire sauce and stir until they’re well combined. 

Sprinkle on the spices.  I didn’t actually measure the black pepper.  I like lots of it, so I just ground it in until my hand got tired.

Stir those in, then drizzle the mixture over the stuff in the bag. 

Fold the top closed and shake shake shake until everything is evenly, well mostly evenly, coated. 

Pour the whole mixture onto a sheet pan, or a big roasting pan would work well too. 

Um… I seem to have forgotten to mention preheating your oven.  You’d think we plan that, we do it so often.  Nope, we’re just that scatter brained.  Somewhere back a few steps, preheat your oven to 250°.  That way, you can now slide your snack mix into a preheated oven.  Bake it for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes.  Pull it out and allow it to cool completely.  I like to just sprinkle the rest of the ingredients over the top. 

That way, when you pour it into a big bowl, everything mixes together.

Serve in a big bowl… actually, on second thought, individual servings are much easier to clean up when scattered across the floor.  If it’s a small enough amount, you can even just let the dog take care of it.  Lord knows you’re not going to beat him to it anyway. 

What are your favorite game day snacks?