Easy Cheddar Cheese Sauce for Vegetables

We all love pierogies but it had been ages since I'd served them for dinner. I always serve them with bacon and caramelized onions, with a big dollop of sour cream. And I always serve steamed broccoli on the side. This time I wanted to do something a little different with the broccoli. Enter this Easy Cheddar Cheese Sauce for Vegetables.

This is the same sauce you'd make for mac and cheese. It's an easy sauce to make and was really good with the steamed broccoli. I thought the original recipe was a bit thick, so I've halved the butter and flour in the recipe below.

Easy Cheddar Cheese Sauce for Vegetables
As seen on Iowa Girl Eats

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoons flour
salt and pepper
1 cup milk
1-1/2 cups freshly shredded cheddar cheese

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk for one minute.

Slowly whisk in milk then season with salt and pepper and switch to a wooden spoon. Stir and cook until thickened, about 4-5 minutes.

Turn off heat and add cheese. Stir until melted and smooth. Taste then season with additional salt and pepper if necessary. Serve immediately.

Sweet and Spicy Dipping Sauce

I'd asked SP to buy frozen egg rolls to serve alongside the Crispy Tofu with Garlic and Broccoli, but that night I forgot to serve them. Oops. Luckily I was making Spicy Garlic and Ginger Chicken with Green Beans the following week. I like dipping my egg roll into duck sauce but I can't justify buying a big jar of it and we haven't ordered takeout Chinese in forever so I didn't have any leftover packets hanging around. A quick Google search led me to this Sweet and Spicy Dipping Sauce on AllRecipes.

What a great sauce and so simple to make. It went perfectly with the shrimp and veggie egg rolls, which were surprisingly delicious (gotta love Wegmans).

Sweet and Spicy Dipping Sauce
As seen on AllRecipes.com
Servings: 2

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chili garlic sauce (Sriracha)

Stir the vinegar and sugar together in a small saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves completely, 7 to 10 minutes; add the salt, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the mixture thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir the chili garlic sauce into the mixture. Allow to cool before serving.