Hot Spinach Salsa Queso Dip

Jen's Version

(Acworth, GA)

App night! I adore app night. I adore all apps. Dips, finger foods, cramming lots of different foods onto a little plate and conveniently allowing all to run into the cheese dip. I adore app night.

So there's a running joke that my family, particularly my sisters, mother and I, always make dips. We are dip people. And all dips must have a cheese. Usually cream cheese but Velveeta will do. And if both cheeses are combined, well heck, it might as well be my birthday! So I came across this amazing looking spinach dip and had to share. Not only are we in the throws of football season, but it's the holidays - so everyone should have a good dip on hand. Plus, it has spinach, so it's healthy. Duh.

So you start with cream cheese...

Then add Velveeta, and cube it up nicely so it melts evenly.

It gets tricky here - you have to open a can. Don't worry, it only takes a little effort. Open your can of Rotel and pour it over. I use hot Rotel because I'm not a wuss.

Oh see, I told you this was healthy. Add some spinach. Make sure you rinse your thawed spinach and squeeze out the excess water. 

You just have to check in every now and then and stir (and test). 

There it is! App night! My little plate with spinach cheese dip, teriyaki meatballs and bacon wrapped tator tots. And yes, everything is conveniently touching the cheese dip :)

Hot Spinach Salsa Queso Dip

(Big ups to Haystacks Champagne)

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour, plus

Total Time: 1 hour and 5 minutes (plus time to keep warm)

Ingredients:

1 lb Velveeta (cut into cubes)
8 ounces cream cheese
1 can Rotel
1 package frozen spinach (thawed, rinsed and drained)

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a crockpot and heat until cheese has melted (continuing to stir the mixture to combine ingredients). It should take somewhere around an hour to have the cheeses melt (but check as crockpots vary). This particular method is great if you can leave it on the low setting, then your dip will stay warm for a while. Serve with chips.

Val's Version

(Denver, CO)

Kinda funny how when you're told to do something as a child, you always want to find an excuse not to or try and argue your way out of it. Like … take a nap, clean your room, sit in time out, shower, read, etc. All of those examples are things that I'd love to be able to do on a daily basis now, as an adult. More so, nap and read. I'd kill for time to sit down with a good book and read till my eyes are heavy enough for me to exercise my right to nap for a good hour. Such a dreamer. But, I do get to read. On occasion. Good thing too since I'm in a book club. The ladies in my book club make me sane. They totes do. They are super awesome and we have such a great time gossiping over wine and apps once a month. This months book club meeting happened to fall on blog night. So, they got a bonus!

We read On the Island this month, so I thought it would be cool to go with the theme of the book. I pulled together a bunch of snackies and candies that they incorporated into the story and then cooked up some Caribbean style cocktail sausages and Moms infamous buttermilk chicken (I made mine into chicken nuggets). Spoiler: book takes place in the Caribbean and they killed and ate chickens. 

Jen kinda threw a monkey wrench in it by picking this dip, but it's one I've made before so I knew it would be a crowd pleaser. 

I was in a rush to get everything I needed before picking Lucas up from school, so happened to forget a main ingredient: spinach. Soooo - you'll notice my recipe is missing something. Something critical. But, it was still oh-so good.

Cube your cheeses and toss in your salsa. As always, I pick a salsa that's fresh with all kinds of bold flavors. 

Here's a snapshot of the snausages. Very zesty!

Since I have managed to surround myself with a bunch of gluten free peeps out here in Denver, most of my spread is in fact, gf. Kinda ridiculous how expensive gf crackers are though. I mean seriously, should be cheaper since they're missing a key ingredient. 

I chose to be wheaty and loaded up some sliced french bread with my queso dip and would be lying if I didn't admit to going back for seconds. And thirds. Trifecta, so to speak!

Hot Salsa Queso Dip

(Big ups to Haystacks & Champagne)

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour, plus

Total Time: 1 hour and 5 minutes (plus time to keep warm)

Ingredients:

1 lb Colby Jack Cheese (cut into cubes)
8 ounces cream cheese
1 jar salsa (I used 3/4 full jar of a 16 ounce jar)

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a crockpot and heat until cheese has melted (continuing to stir the mixture to combine ingredients). It should take somewhere around an hour to have the cheeses melt (but check as crockpots vary). This particular method is great if you can leave it on the low setting, then your dip will stay warm for a while. Serve with blue chips for a gluten free app or load up some french bread slices!