First Time Mom and Losing It

This is a compensated campaign in collaboration with Farmland® and Latina Bloggers Connect.


My family and friends like to get together on Super Bowl Sunday even though we are not huge football fans. My husband's birthday always falls around the date so that gives us the extra excuse to get together to celebrate. We have the usual American fare but being Latin we always throw in some Puerto Rican staples like chirraron del pollo instead of chicken wings and tostones instead of fries.

I wanted to take my yummy pizza dip and "latinize" it by adding some amazing picadillo with my favorite sausage from Farmland®. Picadillo is what us Puerto Rican's use to stuff everything! It is usually made with ground beef, pepper and onions, olives, sofrito and some tomato sauce. I wanted to make my picadillo extra special so I used sausage instead of the boring ground beef. Farmland®  Homestyle Sausage is my favorite because it is gluten free with no MSG. It has a burst of natural flavor with enough fat to give it the best texture!


First I diced some peppers and onions and softened them in a tiny bit of olive oil. Then I removed the casing from the Farmland® homestyle sausage and added it to the pan with the onions and peppers.


After the sausage has browned a bit I added the sofrito. When the sausage was completely browned and cooked I added the tomato sauce and cooked it on medium heat for about 5 minutes.



I took a small casserole dish and layered the softened cream cheese and sour cream in the bottom. Then I added a layer of the picadillo and then topped it with mozzarella cheese. I baked it in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes. The cheese should be browned slightly and bubbly.



Instead of your ordinary chips or tortillas I used platano and yucca chips!





Queso Fundido Sausage Picadillo Dip (Printable Recipe)

• 1 pound of Farmland® Homestyle Sausage
• 1/4 cup sofrito (found in the freezer section or substitute a few handfuls of chopped cilantro)
• 1/4 cup diced green pepper
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1/4 cup olives stuffed with pimento, chopped
• 1 tblsp capers
• 4 ounces of canned tomato sauce
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 
2. Add the pepper and onion to a pan with a little bit of oil and cook until slightly softened. 
3. Remove the sausage from the casing and add to the pepper and onion. When sausage is starting to brown add the sofrito. Cook until the sausage is fully browned and cooked. 
4. Add the olives, capers and tomato sauce and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. 
5. Mix the cream cheese and sour cream and place in the bottom of an oven proof dish. Add the picadillo on top and then sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese.
6. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the cheese has browned a bit and is bubbly. 
7. Serve with platano and yucca chips. 

During my first year of teaching, years ago I was lucky to have a group of very supportive veteran teachers to take me under their wings. My school was broken up into 4 different academies and each academy kept together and took care of one another. I remember having one of our many lunches together and one of the retired teachers coming over for a visit with the most delicious dip I have ever had! I asked her what it was and what the recipe was. She said all you do is take a block of cream cheese, Italian seasonings, spaghetti sauce and mozzarella cheese and throw it in the microwave until it all melts.

As I was thinking back to the dip recipe I realized how low-carb the ingredients were. Dips are typically low carb but then you have the issues with the high carb dippers like chips and tortilla chips. I remember how crispy and stiff salami gets when you slowly heat it up in a pan so I decided to try it with pepperoni. It worked! The pepperoni chips where nice and crispy like chips and the perfect accompaniment to the pizza dip.




Low Carb Pizza Dip (Printable Recipe)

• 2 ounce of cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp basil
• dash of salt
• 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Mix spices and crushed tomatoes together and set aside. 
2. Spread cream cheese onto bottom of ramekin. Top with sauce, then cheese. 
3. Place in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbling. 

Serves 2: 5.4 Net Carbs per serving