Not-Your Momma's Queso Sauce

I love tortilla chips and picante sauce.  When Nacho Mom's Original Queso Sauce came to Vegan Essentials, I tried it and liked it, but didn't love it.  But, when mixed with some Pace Picante Sauce, the mixture became better than either of its parts.

The beauty of this sauce is that it is low in calories, no fat, and can be used for a lot of things, like baked potatoes, in pasta sauce, etc.  

Having both Nacho Mom and Pace around to mix became the routine.  Nacho Mom's kept getting more expensive, and then seemed to always be out of stock when I placed an order. One day, the temperature dropped from 56F to 14F in a few hours, and it seemed like a good day to come up with my own sauce.  I expected it to take several tries, but it was actually pretty simple and took less than 10 minutes to do.

This recipe uses regular all purpose flour for the thickening agent, becasue Nacho Mom had flour listed as an ingredient.  However, I have also tried this with tapioca flour and it worked fine.

The recipe calls for two cans of 'RoTel Tomatoes with Green Chiles. Most chain groceries have a cheaper house brand of this product as well.  However, you can use a can of diced organic canned tomatoes and a can of green chiles from the Mexican food section of your grocery.  You could even chop fresh tomatoes, if you wanted.  I have also made this with diced fire-roasted tomatoes and fresh jalapenos, by adding the jalapenos, diced, to the liquid on the stove to soften while it thickens.

Not-Your Momma's Queso Sauce

2 cans RoTel Tomatoes with Green Chiles
water as needed
1/2 c nutritional yeast
3 heaping Tbs of all purpose flour
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4  tsp garlic powder (optional)
1/4 tsp onion powder (optional)
2 tsp Massel Salt Reduced Chicken Bouillon Powder (vegan bouillon powder)

Drain the cans of Rotel into your blender jar and squeeze as much liquid out as possible.  Set the solids aside.

Check the level of liquid in your blender, and add water to bring it to 20 oz (2 1/2 c)

Add all the other ingredients, and blend until the flour is well incorporated.

Preheat a 2 quart saucepan.

Add the blender liquid to the saucepan and cook until it bubbles and thickens, about 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the reserved solids from the cans and mix well.

Let cool , then move to a wide mouth mason jar. It will thicken up a little as it cools.  Refrigerate.