Recipe #1 and #2: Pico de Gallo and Guac

Recipe: Pico de gallo
Source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks
Time: This depends completely on how much you plan to make and how fast you can chop
Ease: 2--unless, of course, you aren't very good with a knife
Taste: 7
Leftover Value: There were no leftovers, however, PW notes that it will not keep for long in the fridge.
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer!

Recipe: Guacamole
Source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks
Time: If you have ready made pico de gallo on hand, 10 minutes tops
Ease: 2
Taste: 8
Leftover Value: Again, no leftovers, but similar to the pico de gallo, guacamole will not last long in the fridge.
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer!

These two recipes come from the "Starters" section of The Pioneer Woman Cooks.  Since pico de gallo and guacamole intertwine not only naturally, but also in PW's book, I made them both as a way of starting this challenge off running.

I have only one complaint towards the pico de gallo recipe.  There are no quantities listed for the onions, tomatoes, or cilantro.  She only tells the amateur home chef to use equal quantities of all three.  Now, intially that seems all fine and well until we reach the jalapenos.  She says to use 1 or 2 jalapenos.  One can imagine that the jalapeno amount is not to be anywhere equal to the previously measured amount of the first three ingredients.  However, what dictates when to use 1 or 2?  This was tricky for me, as I am trying to follow each recipe exactly as it is written.

I used a pretty big jalapeno, sliced it in half and diced half of it for starters.  After mixing it with the onion, tomato, and cilantro, Mallory and I taste tested to see if it needed more spice.

It was perfect.  Since PW did not give specifics of the other ingredients here are the measurements I would give to this recipe:

2 cups diced tomatoes
2 cups diced onion
bunch of cilantro (equaling 2 cups before it is chopped)
1 big jalapeno

After those ingredients are mixed together, the juice of half of one lime is squeezed into the bowl.  The lime flavor didn't play through so well, so next time I would use the whole thing.

After a sprinkle of salt, we followed her final direction, "...taste it with chips so the salt quantity is factored in."

Not. A. Problem.

I served the pico and guac as an appetizer for my brother and sister-in-law.  They liked the pico de gallo, but they loved the guacamole.

Again, PW doesn't include actual quantities.  She sort of helps us out by stating, "I like to allow three-quarters to one whole avocado per person", but that doesn't really help with knowing how much pico de gallo to make in advance because essentially her guacamole is mashing avocados and gently mixing in pico de gallo...a "big pile" of pico de gallo.

Because I'm a pretty literal person, and I happen to need specifics in my life, I'm going to help you out here should these two recipes have peaked your interest.  Total the number of cups of tomatoes and onion used and use the same number of avocados as cups of tomato and onion.  (That is, unless you have monster sized or baby avocados).  I found that an average sized avocado blended nicely with one cup of pico de gallo.

Now I'm going to be honest with you.  I don't think I ever tried guacamole before.  I know, I know, I know, crazy!  Knowing how good avocado is for you, has always made me want to love it, but the green always turns me off.

That might also be why I've never been a big fan of kiwi.

Once I got past the green, I loved it!  The avocado adds enough coolness to the pico de gallo that I might have been able to get away with a little more jalapeno.

The total time to prepare both took me an hour, but that was with chatting and reading and rereading the recipe a couple dozen times to make sure I hadn't missed some invisible quantity listing.

Guest Chef: Hubby's Any Day Queso

Recipe: Any Day Queso
Source: The Orange Strainer (Hubby)
Time: 40-50 minutes prep time, 2-3 hours cooking on low in crock pot
Ease: 2
Taste: 7
Leftover Value: 7
Down the Drain or Keep it in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer!

In reality, this was not just any day queso, but game day queso.  Apparently, my hubby is always in charge of creating nacho heaven at his parents' house on Super Bowl Sunday.  This was news to me, but I took him at his word.

Since BJ's and Shoprite were completely out of queso when we stopped by late Super Bowl Sunday Eve and then again early Sunday afternoon (gee, I wonder why?) he decided he would have to make his own.

I've learned over recent years how particular hubby has become with his cheese.  Whenever we order chips and queso, I'm always satisfied.  After all, cheese in itself is delicious.  How could cheese with extra ingredients ever go wrong?

Hubby, on the other hand, instantly becomes a food critic and will become disgusted if the cheese falls short of his ultimate favorite from Qdoba.

This said, his goal on game day was to create a Qdoba effect in his cheese.  If you've never been to a Qdoba, it is similar to a Chipotle, Moe's, Pancheros, etc.  However, he claims Qdoba serves up the best burritos and has the best queso.

Here's what you'll need:
3 roasted poblano peppers
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
2 plum tomatoes finely diced
1 cup heavy cream

And, of course, cheese.  Cheese, cheese, and more cheese.

1 cup monterey jack cheese
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup american cheese

Begin by placing the poblano peppers on a baking sheet.  Put the pan in the broiler, and turn the peppers occasionally.  This is going to sound strange, but you want the peppers to be blackened on all sides.

(Note: The hands featured in this post are my hubby's.  But you knew that already because the minute you saw them you recognized them instantly as manly man hands.)

Trust me, life will get better soon.

After the peppers are blackened on all sides, wrap each pepper in a piece of tin foil.

Let your tin foil art sit for about 30 minutes to cool.

While you're waiting for the peppers to cool, you can begin placing the other ingredients in a 1 and 1/2 quart crock pot.  Start with 1 and 1/2 tsp of minced garlic.

Dice up two plum tomatoes.  Make sure to put them in a cute bowl like this.

Only to then dump them into the crock pot.

Dump in a cup of Monterey Jack cheese...

then decide that the picture looks better with you sprinkling the cheese in with your fingers, and sprinkle in a cup of cheddar cheese.

*Note: If you like your queso to have an orange color to it, then use orange cheddar.  Hubby must have had a traumatic childhood experience with orange cheddar.  For as long as I've known him, he has refused to go near it.

Crumble up a cup of American cheese,

and dump it on top of the other two cheeses.

By now your peppers should have cooled.  With your fingers you want to pinch and pull off the blackened skin of the peppers.

Knives like these terrify me.  It's only been in recent time that I've been able to pick one up without crying like a baby.

However, they are so very photogenic, especially when paired with slivers of poblano pepper.

Dice up the pepper slivers.

Due to my recent knife confession, now you know for sure that these are not my hands.

That was my plan all along.

Slide the peppers off your cutting board and on top of the cheese.

Here's the very very bad part.

Dump in a cup of heavy cream.

Do it quickly and don't look back.
  

If you want, you can give it all a little mix, but we didn't.  Let it cook in the crock pot on low for about two hours.  After the cheeses start to melt you will want to begin giving it the occasional stir.

While it didn't knock hubby's socks off, I liked it just fine.  It wasn't too thick, a quality which I can't stand in queso.  The flavor and texture both carried smoothly throughout the many many servings I took.