Trashy fondue

The husband and I were invited to a Canadian Tuxedo party, as I mentioned in a previous entry. The whole idea is to wear denim and eat trashy food. My kind of party.

We were unable to attend due to the husband's germs, which are suspiciously flu-like.

This is unfortunate as I had procured some FUBU overalls for him and a black denim mini-skirt for me from our local Goodwill. Guess I'll be donating those right back.

Rather than miss all the fun, I brought the food party to us.

May I humbly present...Trashy Fondue for Two.

Really this is my mom's queso recipe. I grew up eating it at all our family parties...good times. The recipe came to me in a pdf file- I love technology!

Mom says she got this recipe from her aunt, a Oklahoma native now residing in New Mexico. I'll believe her, even though the recipe is scribbled on Park Cities Baptist Church letterhead- From the Desk of Mrs. Gena Hestand, Minister to Senior Adults. If only Mrs. Gena had known about this queso...she could have had a fiesta for those geriatrics!

Cast of characters: diced tomatoes (Mom would use Ro-Tel), a medium onion, 4 oz. green chile, sour cream (only used light because that's what was in the fridge), and 1 pound Velveeta

Dice up your onion. In a sauce pan over medium-low heat, add a teaspoon of olive oil and saute onions until soft. You don't want to brown them, so keep the heat moderate and stir frequently.

Behold the Velveeta. Sacred foodstuff of the South and all-around nutritional marvel.



Dice up the Velveeta into cubes. This is a picture of my knife STUCK in the Velveeta. Seriously. It was caught in a web of non-cheese particles. Good thing I've been working out- showed that cheez who's boss.



Throw the cheez cubes into the pan with the softened onions.

Stir in the tomatoes with their juice, chile, and sour cream. My mom's original recipe calls for 1 cup sour cream. I only had 1/4 cup. Tasted fine to me with less, but you should probably listen to my mom. She's smart.



While you're waiting for the cheez to fully melt and become one with the other ingredients, you can prepare the dippers for your trashy fondue. I sauteed up some cheese & garlic sausage (please note that it is 35% less fat- I'm all about healthy eating) and roasted some mushrooms & Brussels sprouts in the oven. The veggies took about 20-30 minutes at 450. Cook the sausage til it's done & no longer pink.


Once the queso is ready, it'll look like this. Warm, melty, cheezy goodness. If you were having a party, you could do this in the crockpot and keep on low.


Assemble your fondue platter. I artfully arranged Trader Joe's Salsa Tortilla chips on one side, and layered the sausage chunks- cut on a diagonal to make 'em classy- over the Brussels sprouts & mushrooms.


Queso a'la Mom a'la Aunt Shay

1 medium onion, diced
1 4 oz. can green chile
1 can 14.5 oz. stewed tomatoes
1 lb. Velveeta
1 cup sour cream

As with most of mom's recipes, there are no instructions. So...you can follow my detailed process above OR just dump them all together and heat until cheez melts. Serve with chips or just a spoon. This make about 4-5 cups of queso which is more than anyone should eat alone. Be sure to share.