Real Cheese Dip

Hi, I'm HB and I love food. I love lots of different types of food. Most of what I grew up loving is really, really bad for me.

One of my fave cravings is my ma's cheese dip. If you were born and raised in the south, I am sure your mom makes this cheese dip, too. The recipe is quite simple: velveeta, rotel and occasionally hamburger meat thrown in for good measure. I actually did not know that Velveeta was not real cheese until sometime in my early 20's. My hubby loves a good cheese dip as well and I set out to recreate our beloved cheese dip sans velveeta. Here's what I came up with:

Real Cheese Dip

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1/2 onion, diced

1/2 bell pepper, diced

1 can rotel

1 can enchilada sauce (or 1-2 tablespoons of chili powder)

1 teaspoon of cumin

dash of red pepper

dash of salt

2 or 3 (8 ounce) packages of cream cheese

Brown the beef, onion and bell pepper. Drain beef. Over low heat, add rotel and cream cheese to meat mixture. Once the cream cheese is melted, add the enchilada sauce or chili powder to desired color and consistency. Add cumin and remaining spices to taste.

This recipe is very flexible. You can add more cream cheese if desired. The ground beef we purchased from Falling Sky Farm came in 1 1/2 pound packages, which explains the above quantity. The recipe could easily sustain less ground beef.

Tweak away and have fun!

Also posted at Works for Me Wednesday and Real Food Wednesday.