Queso Dip

My mom makes a queso dip that is extremely easy--cooked ground beef, Rotel tomatoes and cream cheese.  It's soooo good, but I wanted to develop my own version that's a little healthier and a little more sophisticated. Yes, I realize there is NOTHING sophisticated about creamy cheese dip with tortilla chips, but I try, oh, I try.

Anyways, my dip was inspired by this version (he used chorizo, guys! SO sophisticated). It was a little lighter than my mom's (the cooking creme I used has about half the fat/calories of cream cheese) and at least comparably delicious. P.S. Ruby, I totally made up the name of this dip by myself, with the help of Google Translate. Spanish pro up in hurr.

Queso salsa con carne

1 lb. ground turkey
2 Tbsp. butter
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. coriander
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 large onion
1 roma tomato
1 jalapeno, seeded
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup tequila
1 pkg. Santa Fe Philadelphia Cooking Creme**
2 cups Mexican cheese

**This stuff was on sale and I wanted to sample it. It was pretty dang delicious, but bottom line is it's processed crap, with maltodextrin, a form of MSG, corn syrup and sugar in it. Next time, I will make my own version to keep this dip as unprocessed as possible. So, what can you substitute for the creme? I would pick sour cream, plain Greek yogurt or creme fraiche (you'll need 1 1/4 cups). Then, add some Mexican flavor--onions, jalapenos, chipotle peppers, cilantro, cumin, taco sauce, even salsa. You can easily achieve the same effect without the processed crap.

1. Put the turkey, butter and spices in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Fry for 7-8 minutes.

Mmmm raw turkey.

2. In the meantime, chop the onion, tomato, jalapeno and garlic in a food processor until finely chopped. Add to turkey and cook for 4-5 minutes.

Fresh veggies

3. Once the turkey is almost cooked through, add the tequila and turn the heat up to high. Cook for 4-5 minutes, until it doesn't smell like alcohol anymore!
4. Turn the heat down to low. Stir in the cooking creme and cheese, cook slowly until everything is melted together.

Real cheese!