Pioneer Woman’s Salsa and Chili’s Skillet Queso

This year we celebrated students heading to college from our youth group.  With Christmas Break approaching, we began planning a dinner so we could spend time together while these girls were home from school.  It was a joy to have these girls in our home again and I loved that we picked up right where we left off.   We enjoyed a night full of good food, laughter and lots of stories about college life.  Precious memories were made!  My favorite story from the night is that the girls had a dear friend visiting from out of town that joined us.  As they were leaving our house, their friend said, “It was crazy how much food they made us!”  The girls laughed and said, “We didn’t even realize.  That’s how it always is at the Blandford’s house.”  It’s true.  I’d hate for anyone to leave my house hungry!  There was lots of food so I’m breaking this night into several posts.  All of these recipes would be perfect to serve at any Super Bowl party you plan on attending.  These recipes are simple and the end result is a delicious dip.

I love feeding this group of girls in particular because they rave about my cooking.  Who doesn’t love a grateful audience?  As an added bonus, 2 of the guests have a photography company so I make them take pictures while the are at my house.  Check out Hues Photography on their facebook page.  I took the salsa picture but they did all the others.  I don’t think they’d claim my picture.  We started with Pioneer Woman’s Salsa.  We’d had friends over a couple of months ago and Clare had made this salsa.  I’m ridiculously picky about my salsa consistency and was thrilled to read that Ree feels the same way!  Besides incredibly easy to prep, this salsa is tasty.  It’s the perfect blend of spice and tomato flavor.  It also makes a ton so we enjoyed it the rest of the week.

I also made Chili’s Skillet Queso.  I was shocked at how dead on this recipe was and thrilled that it was lacking the layer of grease that often comes with this queso when enjoyed at the restaurant.  This will be added to my go to list of appetizers.  It’s beyond delicious!  I don’t have a cast iron skillet so I just used a non-stick skillet.  It worked just fine.  I only used 1/2 cup milk and really liked the consistency that it provided.