Saturday, June 11, 2011

Our Saturday Favorite




May is pretty much my favorite month of the year. Usually the weather is perfect, I know several fabulous people with May birthdays (to include my own), school gets out, the pool opens, Mother's Day, and our local Farmer's Market opens the first Saturday in May! Most Saturdays from May through September we wake up bright and early to enjoy the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the wonderful outdoor market-place. While there, the kids and I eat "around the world" as we like to call it! They have sweet treats and savory selections to choose from. We also enjoy looking at homemade crafts, my weakness being the aprons and hair-bows! Then we fill our arms with an array of fresh fruits and veggies to bring home. We often rush home afterwards to slice those juicy ripe tomatoes to serve up on the fresh baked bread (also from the Farmers Market) for delicious BLT's.

This last visit to the Farmer's Market I picked up some beautiful Roma tomatoes, red onion, garlic and cilantro. I'll give you one guess as to what I was looking forward to making...Salsa! I use it on everything! I scoop it on omelets and scrambled eggs, dip chips in it, serve on tacos, burgers, salmon, chicken, mix it with avocado for amazing fresh guacamole...the possibilities are endless. This is one item we KEEP in the fridge pretty much at all times. Sometimes I make it chunky although my friends from Mexico insist that is NOT salsa. Sometimes I make it more smooth, just like the authentic stuff!


My kids are like me...they love the smell of the fresh herbs!


More authentic

chunky


Gimme Some Fresh Salsa

Ingredients
5 - 6 Roma tomatoes
1/4 - 1/2 red onion
3 - 5  garlic cloves
Handful cilantro
1 - 2 whole jalepenos

First I boil about a quart of water and throw the tomatoes in the water for about 30 seconds to a minute. Remove them and set on a cutting board to cool a bit.
Roughly chop onion and throw into the food processor. Peel the skins off the garlic cloves and cut into quarters add to the onions. Pull the cilantro leaves off the stems and toss those in there too. Take the jalepeno, cut the stem off and cut the pepper a couple of times and add it in there too. Put the lid on the food processor and pulse it a few times. Now peel the skins off the tomatoes (that's why we added them to the boiling water, makes peeling a tomato way easier). For chunky Salsa,  just dice the tomatoes and add the other ingredients to it. For the more authentic style salsa, cut them in half and I usually give them a gentle squeeze over the sink, but you don't have too.  Now add them to the happiness that's going on in the food processor. Pulse it until it's the consistency that you desire. You can add salt...most people do. We don't cook with any salt but I recognize that is not the norm. A lot of my food posts won't be the hard-core healthy food we eat on an everyday basis but I'll throw some in there here and there. This is one of those healthier recipes.  Anyway, add salt if you must. Sometimes I add some lime juice too, but I didn't have any on hand.


It makes everything even better! Enjoy!

Warmly,
Mary

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