Queso Fundido

"Queso Fundido translates to "molten cheese" or "melted cheese," and this skillet of wonderfulness definitely has cheese to spare!  This is a classic Mexican munchie that you can customize however your heart desires!" - Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman.

1/2 lb. hot breakfast sausage or chorizo
1 whole medium onion, finely diced
2 whole small bell peppers (any color combination), seeded and finely diced
1 lb. Monterey Jack cheese (or Mozzarella, or other stringy melting cheese), grated
sprinkle of chili powder
3 whole roma tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
tortilla chips for serving

Preheat oven to 400F.

In large skillet, cook and crumble sausage until brown.  Remove from skillet and drain on paper towel.  Pour off any excess fat from pan.  Add onions and bell peppers to skillet and cook over medium-high heat until veggies are soft and golden brown, about 7-8 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.

To build the skillet, place 1/3 of cheese in a medium-sized ovenproof skillet.  Add 1/2 the sausage.  Add another 1/3 of the cheese, then as much of the veggie mixture as you'd like (you may have a little left over).  Add almost all of the remaining cheese, the rest of the sausage, and then whatever cheese you have left.  Sprinkle the top very lightly with chili powder.

NOTE:  Depending on the size of your skillet or baking dish, you may have some ingredients left over.  Just build so that the ingredients roughly reach the top of the skillet; they'll shrink quite a bit once the cheese melts.

Place into the oven and start watching it after about 4-5 minutes.  You want to bake it until the cheese is totally melted, hot, and slightly bubbling . . . but before the cheese starts to firm up/harden.  (In other words, you still want the cheese to be extra gooey.)

Remove from the oven, top with the diced tomatoes, sprinkle on the cilantro, and serve immediately with tortilla chips.

NOTE:  Be sure to have everything ready so you can serve the queso fundido pretty much right out of the oven.  It's best when piping hot!

IMPORTANT:  Wrap a cloth around the skillet handle so guests won't burn themselves.

From the kitchen of Ree Drummond.
The Pioneer Woman