Velveeta Free Con Queso Dip/Gluten Free

So I was on the hunt for a Velveeta Free Con Queso dip. I lived in Texas for a long time and love good Con Queso dip. Trader Joes had a great jarred Con Queso. I lived off the stuff in college. But it vanished off the shelves. I was so upset. So one of my friends at work brings great Con Queso dip, but the Velveeta is just killing me. I know it is made of horrible things. It is a oil by product, yuck! So I was messing around with the help of my Mom ,and figured out a recipe that is pretty close.

What you will need

1 cup of finely shredded extra sharp Cheddar

1 cup of finely shredded monetary jack cheese or some kind of white Mexican cheese

or you could get the bag of pre-shredded lite Mexican blend cheese from Trader Joes use two cups

1 tbsp of butter

1 cup of whole or low fat milk

1/2 brick of low fat cream cheese (cut into cubes and let it become close to room temp)

half can of Rotel tomatoes and chilies( you can use the whole can if you like)

1 cup of cooked or canned Pinto Beans

2 tbsp of pickled jalapeno peppers chopped and 2 tablespoons of juice from the peppers

2 tbsp of brown rice flour
2 tsp of tapioca starch

1/4 tesp of cayenne pepper

2 chopped garlic cloves or 2 tesp of garlic powder

Sea Salt to taste

a few cranks of a pepper mill

a few drops of chilly oil

optional half of a chopped yellow onion (if you do add I would cook in a separate skillet until translucent and then add to the cheese sauce)

Optional but do add for sure is two links of chicken or some kind of hot sausage. I take the cases off the sausage before I cook it and then break them up with my fingers into small pieces and cook in a separate skillet. You could cook the sausage with the onion and some olive oil as well.

You can also use one cup of already prepared Pico De Gallo instead of the Rotel and chopped onion to make things easier.

So making Con Queso is like making Mac and cheese from scratch. You make a cheese sauce first combining butter, milk, cream cheese, flour and the cheese on medium heat in a large non-stick skillet. Stir constantly, but not quickly. Make sure the sauce does not burn or get to hot. If you see it starting to boil take off the burner. A little bubbling and steam is ok. After the mixture has thickened and the cheese has combined into the liquid. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until incorporated completely. Let cook for about five more minutes so the mixture combines and heats up together. Then the mixture will darken in color a bit and give it a couple more good stirs and your done. Then transfer to a Pyrex and you can re warm it up in the Microwave when you want more later. I like to dip with Organic Blue Corn chips from Trader Joes.

Other great Tex Mex recipes from http://www.texmex.net/Rotel/main.htm

and http://thepioneerwoman.com/