I took the Velveeta Challenge, Sort Of

Posted by: Elizabeth on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

With budgets tighter and the price of groceries uncomfortably high, many families are once again turning to an easy, affordable way to put a delicious meal on the table- the casserole. It’s so easy to take any kind of cooked meat, vegetables, and rice or pasta and turn them into something delicious, especially if you add the cheesy taste of Velveeta.

Yes, that’s right, Velveeta! The makers of those bricks of yellow processed cheese have come up with a clever way to get America to rediscover Velveeta, which is inexpensive and unbelievably versatile. In fact, five bloggers were asked by Kraft to take the official “Velveeta Challenge”- creating an original casserole recipe using Velveeta that can serve four for under $10 including leftovers for the next day. Visitors to the Velveeta Casserole Challenge site between Oct. 30 and Nov. 23 can vote for their favorite blogger’s recipe and try them out for themselves.

A contest, also hosted on VelveetaCasseroleChallenge.com, offers great prizes for consumers’ best tips to deliver delicious dinners to the family on a budget. Twenty first prize winners will receive VELVEETA Casserole Kits and the creator of the top tip will be awarded a set of stainless steel cookware.

I got an email from Teresa at Edelman asking if I wanted to also check out Velveeta and see for myself how it can make a delicious casserole for not a lot of money. She sent me a coupon, a Velveeta Cookbook, and a beautiful blue Le Creuset casserole dish (thanks again Teresa!). Now, here’s the thing- I was supposed to use all three of those items to, you know, MAKE A CASSEROLE. Instead, I took the coupon and the cookbook to the grocery store to find sale items that I could combine with the Velveeta. And somehow I got it in my head that I should make the Cheesy Tostadas recipe from the cookbook.

It should have been easy- I bought a Taco Bell tostada kit on sale, it came with ten tostada shells, the seasonings, and sauce. I found ground beef marked down because it was the end of the day, refried beans on sale, and used the coupon to pick up the Velveeta. All I had to do was brown the ground beef, layer it on the tostada shells along with the warmed-up refried beans, and top each shell with a cube of Velveeta, then bake. Except I got it in my head that I should MELT the Velveeta.

Here’s the thing- Velveeta doesn’t really melt by itself. If you mix it with milk or or cream cheese, you can make a cheese sauce. If you put a cube of it on something and bake it, it will more or less melt. But in a glass measuring cup in the microwave? It sort of melts, then immediately cools into well, a giant lump. It’s not Velveeta’s fault! It’s mine, totally. Here’s what I ended up with:

As you can see, the Velveeta (under the sour cream) isn’t so much melted as just, um, sitting there. But it was still good! And Teresa, I promise next time I’ll make an actual casserole. For those of you who made it all the way to here, thanks for reading, and please go visit VelveetaCasseroleChallenge.com. Personally, I voted for Lori at My Wooden Spoon’s recipe because I thought it looked the most like something I would enjoy eating :)

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Topics: Contests, Feeding a Family, Foodie Websites

2 Responses to “I took the Velveeta Challenge, Sort Of”

A Cowboy's Wife Says:
November 19th, 2008 at 10:17 am

I LOVE me some tostados!!..LOL Thank you so much for the plug/recommendation:) I really appreciate that Elizabeth!!!

A Cowboy’s Wifes last blog post..Red Pears

Elizabeth Says:
November 19th, 2008 at 10:29 am

Lori- you’re welcome! Good luck in the challenge, you should totally win :)

 

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