This recipe was submitted by Latina Magazine's Entertainment Editor, Jesus Trivino:

Nothing beats a bowl of my mother’s sopa de queso on a cold, winter day. She calls it comida de pobre (food of the poor); I just call it delicious.

According to my mom, when my parents immigrated to Brooklyn, NY from Guayaquil, Ecuador in the 1960s, sopa de queso was one of their main dishes to survive. It was cheap and easy to make. Add a cup of white rice and my dad was full of energy, ready to lift packages upon packages of candy at the Now & Later factory.

To this day, I always ask my mom to cook me up a sopita de queso and even my nieces crave this comida de pobre. It’s a smooth, milky soup which will have everyone screaming, “say cheese!”