Queso Blanco Dip (White Cheese Dip)

Book Update:  I finished my Positive Psychology class 3 hours ago.  After working off and on writing the final today, I finally submitted it.  Woo hoo!  Now, I have no show to perform and no graduate class.  What am I supposed to do?  Oh I did read some of “Why Calories Count: From Science to Politics” by Marion Nestle and Malden Nesheim.  Some of the interesting things I learned that I had always wondered are:
1.  Why do we lose water weight when dieting?  During sleep, fasting occurs when the enzymes break down the glycogen in your liver into glucose (the fuel for your brain).  Because glycogen binds up to four times its weight in water, this breakdown releases the water. Now weight loss occurs when the body needs more glycogen and starts the break down from body proteins and fatty acids.  After a few days, the body starts to break these down faster and faster and the body also tells the kidneys to release salt – which as we all know releases the water as well.  — This is also why we lose weight fast at first.  All the excess water.
2.  Fidgeting may account for how some people can eat more than you and still be skinny.  Scientists concluded some fidgetors burn anywhere from 100-690 calories per day just fidgeting.
3.  I had read in several holocaust books about how some survivors of starvation would actually die or almost die when given food.  This didn’t make any sense to me, but the book explains starvation and what happens.  Since the digestive tract has nothing to do, the villi in the small intestine slough off.  Since there are no villi in the intestinal tract to digest the food, then the food creates horrible pains or death.  Recovery from near starvation takes weeks of recuperating.
4.  There was a professor that went on the Twinkie Diet.  Yes, he ate twinkies and junk food for 2 months and lost 27 pounds.

Recipe:  My friend Jackie makes this recipe almost every time she comes over and we all LOVE it.  It tastes like a queso in a restaurant.  The reviews of the original recipe all rave about it.  The only downside is that it solidifies if you let it sit too long.  But a few seconds in the microwave solve that problem.

Queso Blanco Dip
serves 8 (double for a large crowd)

.75 (3/4) pound white American cheese (I had to get this at the deli counter)
1/8 cup diced green chilies
1 pickled jalapeno, chopped (my jar was all pre-chopped, so I just picked 3-4 slices)
1 Tb. pickled jalapeno juice (from the same jar as the pickled jalapeno)
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup cold water
cumin (optional)

1.  Have the cheese cut up into cubes.  Mix it all up in one large microwave bowl.
2.  Microwave until melted.  Stir up and eat!    Store any leftovers in the fridge and reheat as needed.

Recipe from www.seededatthetable.com