Just another Mexican Casserole (or nacho dip) featuring ground beef, refried beans and sausage

The plan tonight was to use up some of the homemade sausage in the freezer, the last glass jar of homemade salsa, a half round of my favorite queso that I had food sealed and in the fridge as well as some cheddar from the deep freezer that tastes great, but cheddar does get 'crumbly' after frozen.  I added to that some refried beans, black olives and was able to empty the last of the homemade taco sauce. 

I originally got this recipe when I was 14 years old and was babysitting for a woman who made it and had me bake it for her 3 kids while I was babysitting.  I loved it so much I had her write down the recipe for my Mom.  She then made it regularly as we all loved it - and I continued making it for my own family once I grew up and married and had kids.

It's a casserole and/or a dip for tortilla chips.  You can also put it in a flour tortilla.  Since I'm trying to use UP groceries and not BUY ANY... I don't have tortilla chips so we are having it as a casserole - which is my favorite way to eat it anyway!

 

 Mexican Casserole or Dip

1 lb. ground beef browned with 1 small onion, chopped
1 can refried beans
1 c ground and browned sausage
4 c shredded cheddar cheese
1 small can green chilies, chopped
1 - 16 oz. container sour cream
1 jar salsa or taco sauce
*optional - black olives, green olives, sliced
*optional - 1 1/2 c guacamole or avocado dip


Spread the refried beans on the bottom of a sprayed casserole dish for a meal or if you are using this recipe as a dip, spread it thinly on the bottom of a larger pan of your choice - (pizza pan, 9X13, anything you wish!) Brown the ground beef and/or sausage with the onion. Place half into a greased casserole dish or if you are using for a dip, use all of it over the refried beans in the larger pan. Sprinkle with half the cheese. Add the chilies and/or jalapenos, the sour cream, the salsa/sauce and the rest of the cheese in layers. Top with olives if you love them!

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes for a thinner pan and bake 45 minutes if you have a thick casserole dish. When the cheese is melted and it's hot all the way through, remove and serve as a dip or let set for 5-8 minutes to 'set up' when serving as a casserole. It may be more runny when hot straight from the oven and it sets up (like lasagna does) when left to stand and cool a bit. We can never wait and don't care - we dig right in!

Here are photos of what I think might be the first (1st) time I posted the recipe on An American Housewife - these were from March of 2011.  You can see what it looks like when it's not all mixed up and dished, ready to eat.

 

Fresh greens from the garden Santa Fe Salad

 

Tonight's dinner - Santa Fe Salad. 

Already posted this marinade a LOT of times since 2008-ish.  But, here it is again so you don't have to go searching for it if you are interested.

Marinade:

1 cup water
2 T soy sauce
1 1/2 T sugar
1 T salt
1 T vinegar
1 t powdered chipotle pepper (could use cayenne, if it's all you have)
1 t hickory smoke flavoring
1 t paprika
1 t garlic powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/2 t round black pepper
 

Marinate the chicken at least 2 hours and 4-8 if you can.  Grill.  Slice and serve with salad.

 

Food Storage: Mexican Casserole

Yesterday morning I was putting something in the freezer when I spied the extra 'fake' taco meat I had made a couple weeks ago.  I pulled it out of the freezer and placed it into the refrigerator to thaw for 'something' today.  And that is how this recipe came to be.

The idea was to use up some of this food storage imitation taco meat - which was already reconstituted for a previous post.  I saw next to it I had a food sealed package of corn tortillas leftover from last Fall (we don't normally eat them but we had a family get together so I had some random foods on hand left).  I grabbed those, a food sealed bag of frozen diced avocados, one fresh avocado a family member left here this week, one of my few remaining packages of frozen shredded cheese, and a can of enchilada sauce.  I had to go to the 2-3 year pantry to get a can of refried beans and a can of black olives.  I had some green chilies in the pantry so I grabbed those.

Lastly, the onions were freeze dried, and you all know how I hated the sour cream powder and did actually go to the store to buy a container of sour cream.  I used that in this recipe and finished it off with some homemade taco sauce (already posted).

Mexican Casserole

Reconstituted 'taco' meat
Refried beans
Green chilies
Cut up corn tortillas
Enchilada sauce
Sour Cream
Avocado
Cheese
Black Olives
Green onions
Taco Sauce

Layer the taco meat, beans, green chilies and corn tortillas.  Bake at 350 about 25 minutes.  Remove from oven and top with the rest of the ingredients.  Return to the oven for another 25 minutes.  Serve hot.  Goes well with flour tortillas and corn.

 NOTES:  I'm still using up the can of Auguson Farms imitation Taco Meat as I rotate out the oldest cans in our food storage - which are from 2012 ish.  Use that if you have it or use freeze dried ground beef, freeze dried diced beef, fresh or frozen ground beef or diced chuck, whatever you have.  Use freeze dried or canned chicken if you wish.

 

I happened to have some corn tortillas on hand in the freezer - which I normally don't.  What I do have however, is the ingredients to make them from scratch if I needed to, and I have one of the 'bucket' meals some of the popular food storage companies sell as a "Mexican Food" bucket that has a package of corn meal in it to make them as well.

 

Random... frozen avocado.  I also have freeze dried avocado if I need to break into that at some point.

 

Still blessed to have some fresh shredded (frozen) cheese and haven't had to use any of the freeze dried so  far, although I am out of cheddar cheese so if I want that I have to go dig through food storage to find a can of it.

 

Topped with my homemade taco sauce (recipe on the site a lot of times already) - and used freeze dried green onions.  Love black olives - and I have some in the 2-3 year storage.  Leave those off (obviously) if you don't like them.

 I don't have a finished picture of it.  I sent some with Mr. Husband for his dinner at work tonight and I had a LOT of it for my lunch today.  The rest is in the refrigerator and I don't  want to get up and go to the kitchen to take a picture of it.  So you get this... prior to baking.

Carne Asada Marinade (for street tacos) and the different LEVELS of food storage has paid off

 

 

There are some days I go to the kitchen pantry and see exactly what I need to pull off a meal and say "Oh Thank you God for this stocked pantry!", but then the next day I will need a couple items and go to the 2-3 year pantry and 'grocery shop' and come into the kitchen with 3-4 items I needed and "Thank you God you put it so strongly on my heart to prepare... and I had these exact items I need!"     And yet, this week I've been ever-so-thankful for my freezers.  Oh thankyouGod for my stocked freezers.... what a blessing they have been over the past 4 months!!!

And that is why I'm thankful this week because yesterday I was craving 'street tacos' - made with grilled, marinated steak.  

Great on thin sliced pork and chicken.  Great on steak too.  And normally I would have sliced these steaks thinner or into strips to get more marinade on them but I was in a serious hurry/rush to get this done ASAP and get out the door to the library to story time with the 3 year old so I got it together as fast as I could and left. Leave your meat/poultry thick if you wish for a mild flavor, but slice and marinade a long time for an intense flavor.

I grilled these last night, served with a sauce I whipped up from ingredients in the fridge and cupboard, pulled out a food sealed package of corn tortillas I had saved from 'leftovers' from when we had family visiting last July (?)  August (?). 

Carne Asada Marinade

1/2 c soy sauce  (Used liquid Aminos)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 T vinegar
1 small jalapeno pepper, chopped fine
1/3 c lime juice (from the freezer, squeezed and froze last Fall)
1/4 c lemon juice (used all lime juice this time, no lemon)
1/2 t either chipotle seasoning or cayenne
1 T (scant) chili powder, cumin and paprika
3/4 t dried oregano
1/4 c fresh parsley (you can use cilantro)
1/2 c oil (preferably olive oil)
pepper (about 1/2 t) but not salt as the soy sauce is very salty

Place all in a ziploc baggy (double bag) or in a ceramic or glass container, and add about 2 pounds thin steaks or other meat.  Let marinade overnight.  Grill until done, slice across the grain and serve.  I opted to serve with tortillas, salsa, sour cream, cheese, avocados and lettuce.   

 

Here is a picture of one of the many (many) times I've made this recipe - this time with pork.  I use this same marinade on beef, pork and chicken - and love them all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quesadillas

 

Last night was a very simple dinner as it was just me home at dinner time.  Quesadillas.

I like onions on mine, but we obviously have no fresh onions right now so freeze dried it is!  I chose green onions, although you could use minced dried onions as well.
Lastly - the cheese. 
Not only do we keep blocks of cheese in the deep freezer, but when they are opened, I always use my vacuum food sealer to seal them tight for storage in the refrigerator.  This means our cheese lasts and doesn't get moldy or go bad!   So I had a food sealed 1/4 block of cheddar and a bit of Queso Fresco in the refrigerator which I used and then promptly resealed the rest of the cheddar again - which if we don't care to use it, will still be perfect a month or two from now (although we love cheese so it will probably be used this weekend as I cook with it all the time).

 

 

Jalapeno and Cheese Smothered Pork Chops

 

One of our regular favorite recipes (posted a few times already) is the pork chops, marinated in salsa, grilled and topped with a mixture of cheese(s), crumbled bacon and jalapeno.  So, so good... and this was a quicker, easier, oven version similar to that.

Pork Chops
Cheese of choice (I used queso fresco)
Jalapeno slices
Bacon 
Spices - salt and pepper and a chipotle mixture (use what you wish)

Laid a strip of bacon down, topped with a pork chop, layer of cheese, a sprinkle of your spices, top with jalapeno slices and lay a slice of bacon across it all.  Bake at 375 or 400 until it's crispy and golden brown.  Flip them over carefully as the bacon strip on the bottom for moisture and non-stick needs to be crisped up.  Hit the 'broil' and let them cook a few minutes until crisp.  Remove them from the oven, flip back over and serve.

Food Storage - homemade taco sauce AND hits and misses on sour cream powder, stored Velveeta, canned Queso (taco night)

 

 

FIRST TRIAL:  did it work?

 

The first thing I'm going to note for my future reference are the FAILS.

I do have sour cream powder in my pantry but it's one of those food storage items that is more for baking and cooking than it is for actually trying to make 'sour cream'.  Cookies, cakes, beef stroganoff, yes... actual sour cream?  No.  BUT... I wanted to try something new to me to see if it would work.

Spoiler alert... it didn't. 

Sour cream powder has the fat taken out.  I saw a can of shelf stable 'table cream' in the pantry and thought to myself "I wonder if I could mix that with the sour cream powder to get a sour cream taste/flavor with the creaminess of the actual table cream, which would provide the 'fat' for taste and texture?"

The texture was great.  The smell and taste however were not anything even remotely close to sour cream.

Determined to try a couple more things before failing completely, I tried to add some lemon juice.  Nope.
I tried a little vinegar.  Nope.

Those were my best guesses.  I then covered it and let it chill for 4 hours to see if the flavor would improve.  It didn't.

I asked for other family member input and we all agreed it was a cross between 'cucumbers' and 'cheese'. 
I had some on my tacos.  It made me enjoy them less.  I didn't like them. I ate them (not wasting food) but I didn't like them.
I threw out the fake sour cream.  
Fail.

OTHER FAILS:  I am trying to use up and rotate out 'older' products and also test out what is storage-safe and a complete waste of money.  While getting the table cream out of our 2-3 year pantry for my sour cream trial, I spied a box of Velveeta that had been pushed to the back, and had another product sitting on it - so that it was completely missed this whole time and I didn't even know it was there. 

Velveeta was 'original' style and best by date was December 2022.  So, it was just over 1 year past. 
Opening it up, it stuck to the foil and basically was pulling apart in huge pieces, and looked like rubber.  (Granted, it kind of does anyway... it's not a real quality food product to begin with!  But it was a trial to see what options I could store for 'cheese' variety.)

It had a very slight 'off' smell - still edible, still fine and safe to eat if we needed to, or if it would have been mixed in with pasta to make homemade mac and cheese in an emergency food situation, but since we are not in that "we have turned into Venezuela" situation YET in this country, it wasn't a food I was ok with eating (yet) or serving to family.  It went into trash.  *NOTE*  I've been VERY happy with the tightly sealed, smaller envelope style packages of Velveeta style cheese sauce.  But the boxed Velveeta isn't sealed well enough through the sealed foil to store very long.  I would not want to use it past it's best-by date unless we absolutely had to.

Canned white Queso:  It was the popular Rico's brand and I've posted a couple weeks ago when I opened and tried other cans of it and the yellow cheddar version.  I think this is the last can of white queso in the 2-3 year storage pantry and knowing it probably wasn't going to be at its top quality, I grabbed it as an "OPEN AND TRY" with no expectations task.

And I was right.  It looked fine, tasted... fine and was... fine.  But it was also just a little bit off in flavor just enough that in order to use it without hesitation, I'd want to mix it in with the taco meat to form a nacho dip, or use in hot pasta, etc.  

Honestly, I think I'm being a little too judgemental over the canned Rico's cheese because even when it's freshly bought and brand new, I have issues with the chemical 'taste' that comes through.  I have a very, very sensitive nose that can smell chemicals and preservatives better than most, so I think the canned cheese (2021) is fine for everyone... else. 

But, I have small packs of Velveeta in the regular pantry I can use if I need to in the near future.   I tossed the can.

ON TO DINNER:

I've already posted about this product - but we had more of it last night.
Vegetarian, (imitation) Taco Meat.
Surprisingly good (see previous posts for more in depth chit-chat about it).

 

TACO SAUCE:  Regular readers know we always keep homemade Taco Bell style taco sauce on hand... always.  I haven't bought taco sauce in years and years because homemade is just so easy and tastes better.

We ran out a few weeks ago and I just hadn't made up another batch yet.    This is a 'half' version of my regular recipe, as I make the whole 3 cup version, using the whole little can of 6 oz. tomato paste, and keep it in glass jars in the refrigerator. 

HOMEMADE MILD TACO BELL SAUCE

Just grab a saucepan and add;

1 1/2 cups water
1 t corn starch

Stir until dissolved. Add;

1/2 a can of tomato paste (use 3 oz.)
1 1/2 T vinegar
2 t chili powder
1 t salt
1/2 t cayenne pepper
Heat to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 5 minutes, stirring every so often. Cool.

To make a hotter version, add another teaspoon of chili powder, and another 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne - but I wouldn't serve it to children, it's far too spicy and 'burny' for little ones.  To make it even milder for the little ones, leave out the cayenne all together.  A nice mild, taco bell flavor sauce all can enjoy.

Auguson Farms Vegetarian Taco Meat for Super Nachos and Soft Tacos

 

I'm sitting here eating a big plate of 'super nachos' as I type this and they are so so good.  And I am guilty of judging this product before trying it... and I stand as 100% wrong. 

Let me explain.

This is a #10 can I bought when I very first started to buy long term food storage.  It was 2012.  Since it was 'long term' it went into storage.  Fast forward to 2017/2018. I was planning a 2 week cross-country hiking/camping trip and ordered freeze-dried food for the trip. One of the things I ordered and used was a 'vegetarian taco flavored meat'.  It was awful.  So awful it wasn't even edible.  Because of that I had been dreading trying this food product in our long term storage. 

I was wrong. The *other* vegetarian taco meat I had tried was from a different brand.  I thought they would all be the same.  They are not.  I opened this one today, and it is so very good that I have no qualms whatsoever in eating it.  It is very, very good!

Auguson Farms Vegetarian Taco Flavored Meat

2 cups water
1 cup vegetarian taco meat
2 T oil (I used avocado)
1 T soy sauce or liquid aminos

Heat the water in a pan on the stove.  Add the oil and liquid aminos or soy sauce to the water.  When it comes to a simmer add the vegetarian taco flavored meat.  Cook for 2-3 minutes and it will rehydrate, using up the extra liquid and become a texture just like regular ''taco meat' that you are used to.  (See photo). 

Serve as you would taco meat.

*I went ahead and added a little bit of cumin, chipotle, chili powder and onion powder. Not much, but some...which really enhanced the taco meat flavor for 'make-it-yourself' Mexican dinner.  

Mr. Husband made soft tacos out of it and I found myself snacking on it with round tortilla chips until I was able to make a full plate of 'super nachos'.  I added a can of corn from the pantry to the mix.  Serve with flour tortillas, chips, taco shells... however you would normally use taco meat.

After simmering at a low boil for just a couple minutes....  taco 'meat'.

 

I kept snacking on it with chips from the pantry until I could make a proper plate of super nachos. 

 

 

 

Grilled Pork - Carne Asada Style - and perfect in tortillas with cheese, sour cream and avocado

We've had this marinade from 2013 on various meats TWICE in the past week.  I've made a few different sauces for it, and one daughter loves it with just ranch dressing or green goddess dressing as the sauce.  We simply serve with fresh shredded cabbage, on flour tortillas.  

 

I posted this recipe previously in 2013 using thin sliced steak.  That's what I usually use, but I did it differently this time and loved it - I used a pork roast I had cut from a large pork loin I bought at Sam's Club.   It had a nice layer of fat on the back/bottom so I sliced thin slices of meat, but only 'to' the fat - not through it.  This made a fanned out piece of meat with the slices forming the fan, but attached on the very bottom with the layer of fat.  I placed this in the marinade in a glass dish, flipped it a couple times to get it covered in marinade, then let it set overnight.

The next day I grilled it, and it was really nice to have it fan out to cook; no pieces falling through the grates.  I grilled it on both sides, flipping when needed, until the meat was done through.  I let it set about 10 minutes, then sliced off the fat back (which had blackened nicely from the grill yet protected the meat) and then sliced the meat through to serve on low-carb flour tortillas with cheese and sour cream.

 

 

Here is the recipe as posted in 2013.  I doubled it this time and used amino acids in place of soy sauce and added a jalapeno from the garden that had turned ripe and red hot.
 

 

Carne Asada Marinade

1/2 c soy sauce or amino acids
3 garlic cloves, minced or chopped
1 T vinegar
1 small jalapeno pepper, chopped fine
1/3 c lime juice
1/4 c lemon juice
1/2 t either chipotle seasoning or cayenne
1 T (scant) chili powder, cumin and paprika
3/4 t dried oregano
1/4 c fresh parsley (you can use cilantro)
1/2 c oil (preferably olive oil)
pepper (about 1/2 t) but not salt as the soy sauce is very salty

Place all in a ziploc baggy (double bag) or in a ceramic or glass container, and add about 2 pounds thin steaks or other meat.  Let marinade overnight.  Grill until done, slice across the grain and serve.  I opted to serve with tortillas, salsa, sour cream, cheese, avocados and lettuce.  

 

Sheet Pan Style Crunch Wrap Supreme

If you are a regular reader of An American Housewife, I've posted about them in the past.... Homemade Crunch Wrap Supreme

This week I made our regular Crunch Wrap meal into a 'sheet pan style' crunch wrap instead of individuals. 

NOTE:  the next time I make these sheet pan style, I will bake them without the sour cream inside, and just top the individual servings with lettuce, tomatoes, onions and sour cream, as well as extra taco sauce or salsa.  Since I wasn't going to the grocery store until the next day, I baked the sour cream inside as we were out of lettuce and tomatoes anyway!

Sheet Pan Crunch Wrap Supreme

1 1/2 lb. ground beef made into taco meat of your choice
1 pkg corn tostada shells, taco shells or even Doritos (use what you have)
1 pkg. flour tortilla shells 
1 can nacho cheese sauce or a couple handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese
butter
lettuce
sour cream
tomatoes
taco sauce
2 pans of similar size so one can lay on top of or inside the other

Lay a flour tortillas down inside a greased baking pan.  I used a sheet pan but any pan could work, just adjust your number of flour tortillas and  corn tortillas to fit.  Spread the meat over all.  Spoon and spread nacho cheese sauce on the meat (or used grated cheddar)  and top with a crunchy tostada shell, taco shells, etc.  Add some taco sauce over all.

Lay 2 or 3 more flour tortillas down the center of your pan, start to fold the wrap up over the tostadas or shells.   Cover the shells or tostadas completely with the flour tortillas, folding in the edges.  Spread butter all over the flour tortillas and use a second pan of similar size laid down on top of it all to hold the flour tortillas in place and help to get them golden brown and crisp.

Bake at 425 degrees until golden brown when checked (I think mine was around 20 minutes - I didn't time it.)  I just kept an eye on the edge of flour tortilla showing and then picked the top pan up to check how golden brown they were.  They are done when heated through, and golden brown and crispy.

 

I used a mixture of ground pork and ground beef since we always have both on hand (I grind our meat myself).  This makes my more expensive beef go further when I also mix pork with it. 

 

Make your filling with whatever you like for your taco meat fillings.  (Store bought seasoning mix, homemade, etc.)

 

Line a greased pan with flour tortillas.

 

Spreading the meat mixture

 

Cover all the flour tortillas with the taco or chalupa meat

 

Add a layer of cheese - shredded or even canned cheese spreads

 

Normally I'd leave the sour cream off and serve it as a topping with lettuce and tomatoes and onions.  As I noted above, I was out of lettuce and tomatoes and wouldn't be going to the store until the next day, so I just opted to bake the sour cream on it so I could clean up the kitchen while they baked, and serve without any toppings, fuss or mess.

Drizzled taco sauce (or your favorite salsa) over as well.

 

Add your crunchy layer.  My usual is tostadas but I only had taco shells on hand this time.

Add a couple flour tortillas to the center to cover, and fold the edges in so it's all covered up tight.  Spread butter over all.

 

Set a second baking pan or sheet on it to hold the tortillas down, in place and help them cook to a golden brown and crispy layer.

 

Its 'done' when heated through and everything is a rich golden brown.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From my Instagram: Homemade Taco Sauce

If you are clicking here today because you saw my post on the crunch wrap supremes and homemade taco sauce I was making today, here is the taco sauce!

No sense in re-creating the wheel as I've posted this recipe numerous times in the past.  Here is a re-post of one from 2021. 

  

2021...

 

It takes less than 10 minutes and I can make 4 bottles worth in one recipe!  

I've been making this for 20 years. I used to put it into small mason jars or re-purposed dressing jars, iced coffee bottles, etc.  but a number of years ago they started to sell Taco Bell sauce in the grocery store and once in a while I'd buy it.  I then save the bottles and reuse them.  

I'm doing this from memory but it's so easy and follows a 4-3-2-1 pattern, I'm sure you'll memorize it in a minute as well!

Taco Sauce

3 c water
3 t corn starch

Place in a sauce pan on the stove, turn on the heat to medium high and whisk. When it's all mixed in, add;

1 - 6 oz. can tomato paste
4 t chili powder
3 T white vinegar
2 t salt
1 t cayenne pepper powder

Whisk over medium high heat just until it starts to bubble and thicken, turn down to simmer and simmer for a few minutes before removing from heat and letting cool down before you pour it into whatever containers you wish.

 

There is a video on my story on Instagram today that includes me whisking and stirring the taco sauce on the stove.

Here are some random photos I took quickly with my cellphone of me whipping up a batch quickly while the baby was playing and giving me a few minutes to do so! 

  

 

Sauce is done - filling the bottles

 _____________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

 

White Chicken Chili - A creamy version

Is a really crappy, quick, low quality photo snapped on my phone really quickly better than no photo at all?

 

 

Creamy White Chicken Chili

2 T butter or oil
1 med onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
fresh minced garlic
2 lb. chicken (either ground or diced pieces)
1 T cumin
1 T chili powder
1 t oregano
salt and pepper to taste
3 small cans green chilies, diced
1 can, rinsed and drained black soy beans (for keto chili) or regular black beans for non-low carb
1 c chicken broth
1 c heavy cream
8 oz. cream cheese
1-2 T fresh lime juice

Cook the onions and green pepper in the butter or oil until translucent and soft.  Add the garlic (1-4 teaspoons depending on much you like).  Cook 1 minute more.  Add your chicken pieces and cook until they are done (about 8 minutes should do it).  Add in the spices.  Stir.  Add the green chilies and beans if you are using any; add the broth and heavy cream.

Cut the cream cheese into pieces and add, simmering and stirring until they are melted.  Add about 2 T fresh lime juice - I never measure, I just squeeze and sometimes it's probably closer to 3 T.  Simmer on low until you serve it.  Don't let it boil since it has cream in it.

Serve as is, or sprinkle with some shredded cheddar on top or even some cilantro.

Spicy Shrimp Queso Dip

 

 

This week is 'Use Up All the Food" Week in our household.  This means using up all the foods we bought for our celebration(s) last weekend before we get back to our normal eating of typically low carb and sugarfree.  Last night was opening and using a bag of tortilla chips, as well as a package of 'queso' Velveeta cheese.  The dish trying to use both of those is obvious but I also wanted to start using up a bag of frozen shrimp that we've had in the deep freeze forever so.... shrimp queso it was!

This is being posted for my youngest daughter who wants me to make this for her, but I am making sure to post it so she can make it herself!  Ha.  

I didn't measure anything, so everything is estimated or just use as much or little as you like - like jalapenos; lots if you love them, little if you don't. 

And cheeses - use whatever you have on hand in your refrigerator.  Monterey Jack or Colby Jack would be yummy but I didn't have those - I ended up using White Queso, Smoked Provolone, Cream Cheese and then some mozzarella, which I only used to sprinkle on top because there was literally a cup of it sitting on the counter and I didn't want to put it back in the package in the refrigerator.  I actually liked it better without as it was on top and formed a cheese crust on top while the rest was all melted and blended.  Yours?  Play with your food - do what you like.

Spicy Shrimp Queso

A mixture of spices to blacken your shrimp:  black pepper, salt, smoked paprika, garlic powder, a little garlic salt
Onion, diced
Tomato, diced
jalapenos, diced
fresh garlic
Velveeta, Cream Cheese, Mont. Jack cheese, Colby Jack Cheese, Mozzarella, Provolone, cheddar... whatever!
Shrimp

Toss the shrimp in the spices while you heat a cast iron pan and add just a bit of oil until very hot.  Add the shrimp in a single layer and cook quickly to blacken and crisp.  Remove to a plate.  Turn down heat and add a little more oil to the pan; toss in about 1/2 cup or so of onion and fresh tomatoes.  Cook briefly and add garlic and jalapenos.  Cook for a minute or two and then add all the cheeses.  Stir off and on til melted.  While cheese is melting, chop the shrimp, leaving a few whole.  Add the chopped shrimp to the cheese in the pan.  Top with shrimp.  Bake at 400 for about 8 minutes.  Serve with tortilla chips.

Mixture of spices

 

Blackened in a cast iron skillet 

 

 

Some tomatoes, onion, jalapeno and garlic



Adding lots of cheeses

Melted smooth
 

 

Chopped shrimp into the cheese

 

Topped with a few of the whole shrimp 

 

Into the oven to warm through for about 5-8 minutes til bubbly.