I made the mistake of thinking that life would be uneventful after our wedding. Boy was I wrong! Ben accepted an offer on a new job, which means we’ll be moving about an hour away to just outside of Pittsburgh. We promised ourselves that our next move would be into a house, so that process has begun and we’ve got our fingers crossed on a cute 1970’s two story that we’d love to make our own! Along with accepting the new job, Ben was also asked to travel and work from Norway for two months this summer. Better yet, I get to go with! We’ll be jetting off to Europe to try and see as many sights as we can in the 8 weeks we’re there while the dogs enjoy a summer vacation with the grandparents! So no, life hasn’t calmed down one bit and I could not be happier about it ;)
On to the FOOD! I made this Homemade Queso during football season and it was one of our favorites! We make it pretty often with Velveeta and Hormel chili, but I started making this one because somehow I always have more real cheese in my fridge than I do the processed stuff (blame it on my mac & cheese obsession, of course)!
It’s basically the same process as making a cheese sauce like you would for mac and cheese, but to keep it a little smoother and less rich, you use chicken broth. You can tweak this recipe to be as mild or as spicy as you like. We like it very spicy, but you could omit the chipotle all together and just have a classic queso :)
Homemade Queso
1 lb. pork sausage
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 small yellow onion – diced
2 cloves garlic – minced
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 cup chicken broth
6 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
6 oz. shredded monterey jack cheese
2 chipotle peppers – diced
2 teaspoons adobo sauce (the sauce that the chipotles come in)
1 cup frozen corn
Salt and pepper to taste
In a small dutch oven or skillet, add your olive oil, pork sausage, paprika, cumin, chili powder, and onion and cook on medium until the pork is cooked through and the onions have softened. Add in your minced garlic and cook for a minute more.
Remove the pork from the pot, leaving the drippings in the pan. Add your 2 tablespoons butter and melt. Stir in your flour and keep stirring until it’s a bubbly paste (your roux). Just before it starts to brown, turn your heat up to medium-high and pour in your milk and chicken broth.
Keep it on medium-high heat, stirring constantly until it thickens – about 5 minutes. Once it’s thick enough to coat your spoon or whisk. See the difference between the photo above?
Add in your shredded cheese.
After it has melted, stir in your chipotle peppers and adobo sauce.
While it’s still hot, add in your cooked sausage and frozen corn.
Stir it up and bring it all back up to a slight simmer.
Once the corn is heated through, you’re ready to start dipping!
Special thanks to the hubby for his hand modeling skills!