Rotel Dip

When I first moved to France, the land of 400-plus cheeses, I tried to make queso with “La vache qui rit,”  the laughing cow cheese. It’s the closest thing that the French have to our beloved Velveeta, but it’s not nearly close enough. It melts, but when it’s cooked, it becomes thin and watery. Plus, it’s white.

Queso is orange.

The other day when Mom and I were pushing our enormous red plastic cart through Target, sipping our afternoon lattes as we stuffed the cart with Ziplocs of all sizes, she said something about being in the mood for queso.

The easiest thing in the world — if you happen to be in the part of the world that has Velveeta.

You cut up some Velveeta. Put it in a bowl. Stick it in the microwave and nuke it for 20 seconds. Give a stir and nuke at 20 second intervals until it’s melty and hot. Now, pour in the Rotel tomatoes and stir again.

This is the unfancy version. If you want to go all the way,  buy some spicy hot Jimmy Dean or Owens Country sausage, cook it up in the skillet, let the grease drain on some paper towels (to keep it healthy, you know), and then fold into the melted cheesey mixture (graf above).

Goes best with pitchers of margaritas. You probably already knew that.