you’re his cheeseburger, his yummy cheeseburger (cheeseburger dip)

This weekend, the beloved carnivore was in town.  We had a ton of premarital counseling stuff to do – you know, so the Catholic Church will put its stamp of approval on our marriage and I can still call the Pope “Il Papa.”

As our reward for spending all of Sunday doing that stuff – a lot of which was genuinely helpful, but some of which was sort of simplistic and probably helpful for the couples who hadn’t so thoroughly covered all that material before getting engaged (i.e., lesser couples) – we had a small engagement party.

A lot of the invitees were vegetarian, including Emily, so most of the dishes were vegetarian.  However, I couldn’t have only vegetarian options at a party to celebrate my engagement to the beloved carnivore, even if I did make homemade tagalongs for him (recipe to come soon).  So I scrounged around and found this article on Serious Eats about cheeseburger dip.

That Serious Eats version of this classic dip sounds delicious and everything, but I didn’t have time for it.  I needed something incredibly simple that could be thrown together while doing 800 other things in the kitchen in the short time between us getting home from the church conference for engaged couples and our guests arriving. So I went with the basic formula for cheeseburger dip that’s known everywhere, with my own way of seasoning the beef.

The only negative thing about this dip is that, after beginning the prep work for it, I got that Veggie Tales song about the cheeseburger stuck in my head and kept singing “My little cheeseburger” to my fiance.  It was the only line I remembered from the song, to which he introduced me, and it turns out it’s not even a real line from the song. My fiance is very patient with me but even he got a little bit sick of hearing that one, inaccurate line from the song over and over and over and over and over.

Cheeseburger Dip

• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1 lb Velveeta
• 1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes (your choice on how spicy)
• salt and pepper
• Worchestshire sauce

Season the ground beef with salt, pepper, and Worchestshire sauce.  In a medium-sized pan, brown the beef over medium to medium-high heat, breaking up the block of beef with your spoon until it’s all in little bits.

You can do this step a day or two ahead of time and, after draining the fat, store the cooked beef in the fridge until you’re ready for it.

If you’re not browning the beef ahead of time, simply set the cooked beef aside in a bowl.   Open the can of Ro-Tel tomatoes and do not drain (unless you’re a wimp about spice).  Put the Ro-Tel tomatoes and the Velveeta (unwrapped) into the saucepan and cook over low-medium heat, stirring frequently, until it’s all melty.  Add in the beef and keep cooking until the beef is warm.

Transfer to a serving bowl and place near the chips.  Add a serving spoon to the bowl so that your friend Ashley can stir it a few times throughout the party and make sure it doesn’t develop a skin on top (thanks, Ash!)

And if there are leftovers, fear not.  According to the beloved carnivore, this tastes even better the next day.

Stay tuned for other recipes from the engagement party, like southwestern egg rolls and homemade white chocolate tagalongs.