Queso

[greybeta]

I made queso for the first time yesterday. And you know something? It was so easy a caveman could do it.

See, my parents bought tons of food for my sister's wedding a week and a half ago. Among these items were bags of tortilla chips for a quick snack, but we got so busy that day we forgot about them. We had some salsa around the house, but I don't like salsa so I volunteered to make queso.

The problem? I hadn't made queso before. So I scoured cooks.com for some basic recipes before deciding on one.

Apparently, the basic queso recipe is this:

1 lb Velveeta cheese
1 10oz can Rotel tomatoes

Then you can add spices and flavor to your taste. Considering mine, I went with:

1 tsp chili powder (approximate, I just put a few shakes in)
1 tsp minced garlic (again, approximate)

I took out a saucepan and put it on medium high heat. Then I put the cheese in, which I should have cut into cubes before hand to encourage faster melting. As it was, I used my stirring spoon to cut it up in the pan.

Once decently melted, I added the Rotel tomatoes and stirred. Then I added the chili powder and minced garlic. After a few minutes I had some queso the way I like it: cheesy with a little kick but not too spicy.

Both of my parents, who favor Asian tastes, liked it and wondered why I hadn't made it before if it was that easy. I guess I thought it was more complicated or something.

Now I'll something to snack while I watch sports games!

Comments

[bleakwinters.livejournal.com]

Okay, that sounds awesome! I must try this next time I make fajitas or something because really, wow epic! :O

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

My other readers tell me a crockpot would be better now that the recipe works. Let me know how it goes! =)

[esper3k.livejournal.com]

What you can also do if you want to make things even easier is just cut up the Velveeta then dump everything into a crock pot and occasionally stir/mix it up in there.

That way, if you're having a party or something, you also have a constant way to keep it warm and liquid without having to use the stove constantly.

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

I thought about a crock pot, but I figured I should make sure I could make decent queso before I bring out the big guns. :)

[tybuc.livejournal.com]

They make Rotel tomatoes with Habaneros mixed in, if you want it one notch up on the hotness scale (it still shouldn't be too bad, they don't go overboard with the habaneros) while requiring no additional effort it's a fine option. I make a tex-mex rice and beans dish a lot and I find it goes well to balance the important hotness/spiciness ratio.

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

Duly noted for next time.

[thanoslug.livejournal.com]

Yup - we always just called that Rotel. As mentioned, a crock-pot works well for it. I used to make it a lot for parties at work and would just melt the velveeta by nuking it in the microwave. My wife and I make our own salsa and always used that to get to the desired level of spicy kick.

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

I'd make my own salsa if I liked the stuff. :)

[kisekinotenshi.livejournal.com]

I discovered that about both scrambled eggs and quesadillas in the past few months. It was a moment of "oh, wait, I CAN do this!". My mother never taught me to cook, so I'm kinda like a bachelor in my eating habits ATM.

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

Yup. It's the joy of trial and error, except tastier! ^_^

[moocowrich.livejournal.com]

I had never heard of Rotel until I moved to Mississippi, and now it is my drug of choice. For really awesome chili-cheese dip (especially good on french fries), try the "Rotel chili fixin's" kind. It's phenomenal.

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

Sounds good. Now I just have to learn how to make a decent batch of homemade french fires! ;-)