Queso Dip (without velveeta)

One of the snacks I miss most while living abroad is Queso (cheese dip). Anytime we had a party back home there was a guarantee that cheese dip was made. We usually made it with onions sauted in butter, then added in a can of rotel tomatoes, and velveeta cheese. It was also something I loved to order from restaurants, but a restaurant never uses velveeta cheese.

In the last month Danish grocery stores finally started to carry monterey jack cheese at the stores. This cheese was unavailable here before, and guess what? It is great for making cheese dip. So I developed my own recipe with the ingredients I have access to here, and it turned out to be pretty delicious. I made a video on how I make queso dip without velveeta which you can see below.

            

Queso Dip (without velveeta)
Ingredients
(serving size: small/medium bowl)
4 slices American Cheese
1/2 cup Monterey jack cheese (grated)
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 jalapeno (remove seeds and stem)
1 chili pepper (remove seeds and stem) - optional: for a spicy cheese dip
1/4 small onion
thin slice of butter (about 15 - 20 grams)
1 - 2 tblsp milk - optional: to help thin out the cheese dip

Directions
1. First, melt butter in a pan, and saute chopped onions, jalapeno, and chili pepper.
2. Add whipping cream to the pan, and bring it to a boil.
3. Lower the heat, and add in the monterey jack cheese. Stir until melted.
4. Then, add in the american cheese. Stir until melted.
5. Next, add in a few splashes of milk if the cheese dip is too thick.
6. Season with salt and pepper.
7. Serve as is, or for a more creamy queso, add the cheese dip to a food chopper and blend until smooth.
8. Serve in your favorite dish.

Note: I am pretty sure you could omit the american cheese, and add an additional 1/2 cup monterey jack cheese instead making a white queso dip, but I haven't tried this. The great thing about monterey jack cheese is that it does not become grainy and stays smooth. If you want to make larger quantities then double the recipe, but be careful about doubling the peppers. You could always saute the peppers whole, remove them from the pan, and add them in a little at a time until you think it's spicy enough.

Enjoy! :)

Note: this recipe made a little more cheese dip than pictured above.

Roasted Salsa Recipe

One of my favorite things to eat back home in San Antonio is Salsa. If you go to any Mexican restaurant in San Antonio you get a free bowl of salsa and chips to munch on, strangely enough, even at breakfast time. Anyways, It's always so good, and always homemade. At the grocery store back home, the Salsa aisle is kind of insane. There seem to be 100 different kinds, and every jar claims to be award winning or the best, but actually it's very very difficult to find one that tastes good. I always try one and end up being disappointed. The best ones are usually the freshly made Salsas in the refrigerated section. H.E.B. makes a really good fresh salsa btw.

Well, the salsa craze hasn't quite hit Denmark, yet, and I can see why. The salsa I have had here is pretty disgusting. It usually just tastes like a bowl of chopped tomatoes or pizza sauce. That is not Salsa. If I never had Mexican food before, and had to base my opinion on the Mexican food I have tried in Denmark, I would hate it, but that is to say not a lot of places make Mexican food to begin with here, and trust me the Danes have perfected so many other kinds of food. Also Mexico is pretty far from Denmark. :o)

Yesterday I decided to try to make Roasted Salsa. Surprisingly it was so easy to make, and tastes so much like the roasted salsa I love at Salsalitos restaurant in San Antonio. I found the recipe online here and I made a video which you can see below.

           
 
Roasted Salsa
Ingredients
1 1b. Plum Tomatoes (about 7 1/2 plum tomatoes)
1 tsp. sea salt
1 medium jalapeno pepper
2 medium cloves garlic
1/2 medium onion or 3/4 small onion
2 tsp. freshly squeezed lime juice (about 1/2 a lime)
sugar (optional)
cilantro (optional)

Directions
1. Rinse and dry the tomatoes and jalapeno. Then, warm up the oven, and set an oven safe pan/dish inside the oven to warm up. I set my oven to 248F/120C.
2. Chop 1/2 a medium onion into four chunks, set aside.
3. Slice each tomato in half.
4. Remove the pan/dish from the oven, and place the tomatoes (skin side down), jalapeno, garlic cloves (skin on), and onion on the pan/dish. Sprinkle salt evenly on the tomatoes.
5. Turn on the broiler in the oven, and place the pan/dish in the oven for about 10 minutes.
6. Then, turn over all of the ingredients, and broil for another 7 - 10 minutes or until toasted.
7. Remove pan/dish from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes.
8. Then, add the tomatoes and onion to a food chopper.
9. Next, remove the stem, and seeds from the jalapeno, and roughly chop it into a few chunks, and add it to the food chopper.
10. Finally, remove the skin from the garlic cloves, and chop off the end piece, and add the garlic to the chopper.
11. Pulse everything until well mixed, then stir in the lime juice.
12. Add more salt, if needed.

Note: I used a grill pan in the oven, but you could use an oven safe frying pan or a baking dish. Alternatively you could try to toast the vegetables on the stove top on a high heat, although I haven't tried that.

The original recipe calls for cilantro and sugar. I did not add this to my recipe, and it tasted great, but you can add that if you wish.

Hope you enjoy this recipe! :o)

How to Make Quesadillas

Quesadillas are so easy to make. You can make them with just cheese, refried beans and cheese, fajitas and cheese or taco meat and cheese. I am surprised how in Europe so many places make quesadillas kind of weird, with whole chunks of boiled chicken breasts or corn mixed in. So I figured there might be some people out there who don't know how to make Quesadillas. If you want to learn how I make them, check out my video below.


           

Quesadilla Recipe
Ingredients
meat (beef fajitas, chicken fajitas, or taco meat) - optional
refried beans - optional
tortillas
butter - optional
cheese (cheddar, monterey jack, mozzarella, quesadilla...or a good melting cheese)

Directions
1. Butter one side of each tortilla (takes two tortillas to make one quesadilla).
2. Place cheese on top of the butter side of one tortilla.
3. Spread refried beans, or beef fajitas, or chicken fajitas, or taco meat on top of the cheese.
4. Sprinkle more cheese on top of the filling.
5. Place the tortilla with butter on top of the filling, butter side down.
6. Toast in a pan on a medium/low heat for about 3-4 minutes on each side.
7. Cut the quesadilla into 4 to 8 slices, like a pizza.
8. Serve with guacamole or chips and salsa, if you want.

That's it. It is way easier than it is described, and you can also just make a cheese quesadilla. The meat is optional, and the cheese types are just suggestions.You can also mix a white cheese and a cheddar cheese together. Hope you enjoy it!

Best Soft and Light Homemade Dinner Rolls

I love homemade bread, but it's rare I find a recipe I love. Today, I found a really good recipe. I got the recipe from a home cook who shared her mother's bread recipe online. I will definitely be making this recipe again. The dinner rolls were light, soft, and really yummy. I think this recipe would be great as sandwich loaf bread too. I filmed how I made them, and you can see the video below.

             

If you want to make this recipe here it is!

Homemade Dinner Rolls
(Yields 16 Large/Medium Rolls or 2 loaves of bread)
Ingredients
1 tblsp yeast
1 tblsp sugar
1/2 cup warm water

5 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tblsp salt

1 1/2 cups warm water
1/4 cup oil

1 tblsp butter (for brushing)

Directions
1. Mix yeast, sugar, and warm water together in a tall glass, cover, and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, and additional sugar together.
3. Then, add the yeast mixture, additional warm water, and oil to the flour.
4. Stir together until a dough forms.
5. On a lightly floured board, knead the dough for at least 5 minutes, or until it comes together. I had to use an additional cup of flour when kneading. 
6. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, and cover and let rise for 1 hour.
7. After it has risen, shape the dough into rolls, and place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
8. Brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter.
9. Cover with plastic wrap, and a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
10. Pre-heat the oven to 375F/190 C.
11. Bake the rolls for 30 minutes or until golden.

Note: The original recipe is a lot larger. I scaled it down in half, which made 16 large/medium dinner rolls. So the recipe written above is half the original recipe. If you want smaller rolls you can divide the dough into 32 pieces to make 32 small rolls. You could also make two loaves of bread with this recipe, although I haven't tried that yet. Also, I changed a few steps in the recipe, such as brushing the rolls with butter before you bake them, and not after. I hope you enjoy it.

How to make Homemade Flour Tortillas

Making flour tortillas from scratch is pretty quick and easy. In Denmark, you can only find some pre-made tortillas that taste really dry, and bland, so much so that they will ruin any meal you use them with. So what does that mean? I gotta make tortillas from scratch if I want them to be good. :o) The hard part can be rolling them out, and cooking them, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy in the end. Here is a video on how I make homemade tortillas, and below is the recipe.

             
 
Ingredients
(makes 12 large tortillas)
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tblsp. coconut oil
3/4 cup warm water

Recipe
1. Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl.
2. Add the coconut oil or oil of your choice, and mix it together with your fingers, until kind of resembling bread crumbs.
3. Add warm water, and mix together with a spoon or fork until a dough forms.
4. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for a minute or less until it becomes smooth.
5. Then, divide the dough into equal portions, and cover with plastic wrap and a towel.
6. Let the balls of dough rest for about 10 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, after 5 minutes, set a pan on the stove and let it heat up. I usually have it on a medium/high setting. It's important that the pan is hot enough when you start to cook the tortillas.
8. Roll a tortilla on a lightly floured surface. I usually press it down, and then roll it. You can roll it to the thickness you want.
9. Place the tortilla in the hot pan and cook it for a minute or two on each side. It is a good sign if it puffs up. Sometimes the first tortilla doesn't come out well, if the pan is not hot enough. Make sure to watch the tortilla closely and flip it over when it starts to brown.
10. Repeat this process until all tortillas have been made.

How to make Potato and Egg Breakfast Tacos

One of my favorite things to eat for breakfast are breakfast tacos. Something that surprisingly is unknown in most parts of the world, but in my hometown of San Antonio, Texas it is really popular. There are many varieties of breakfast tacos from sausage and egg, to bean and cheese, to chorizo and egg. One of my favorites are potato and egg tacos. Of course back home in Texas I usually would just dine in at my favorite Mexican restaurant or drive thru in the morning to pick up some breakfast tacos, but living in Denmark, I can't do that. Instead I have to make them myself. It is actually pretty easy, although a little more time consuming, since I have to make the tortillas as well.

So I made a video showing you how I make potato and egg breakfast tacos here in Denmark. You can see it below.

           

Basically, all you do is fry potatoes, scramble eggs, mix it together, and put it in a tortilla. Top it off with some salsa, and you have yourself a potato and egg breakfast taco. :o) I made the tortillas homemade, and will upload a video on how to make homemade tortillas soon. In the mean time this is how I make potato and egg breakfast tacos. :o)

Ingredients
Fried Potatoes
potatoes (1 1/2 small potato per taco)
onion, for flavoring (half an onion should be enough)
frying oil

Scrambled Eggs
eggs (1 per taco)
salt
pepper
butter

Tortillas

Directions
1. First, wash the potatoes and peel (optional) and chop them into cubes.
2. Next, season them with salt and pepper.
3. Then, slice an onion into large chunks (this will be removed later). If you want to eat the onion with your potatoes then chop it more finely.
4. In a small pot, fry the potatoes and onions together until tender. This should take about 10 - 15 minutes. The potatoes are not meant to be crispy, just cooked.
5. Meanwhile, crack the eggs in a bowl, season them with pepper, and mix them together. Set the eggs aside until ready to use.
6. Then, check if the potatoes are tender by poking a few with a knife. Remove the onions, drain the potatoes, and put the potatoes in a bowl lined with a paper towel, until ready to use.
7. Melt butter in a frying pan on medium heat, then season the eggs with salt, whisk them, and add eggs to the frying pan. Let them sit for a little bit to cook, and then stir them together. Remove the eggs from the heat once almost cooked, and continue to scramble them.
8. Then, add in the potatoes, and mix it altogether.
9. Finally, spread some butter on a tortilla (optional), and put some potato/egg in the center of the tortilla. Add in salsa, if you want, and that's it. I usually add salsa to mine but I didn't have any at the time. I hope you like this recipe!