salsa

I was checking the ingredients on store-bought salsa and, besides the usual tomatoes, onions, garlic, bell peppers, and cilantro, the two main flavor ingredients are salt and sugar.  I taste-tested a few of these, one with less salt, the other with less sugar (hard to find one with less of both); and decided I could do better.  I can, and it's easy.  But I got a good idea from the store-bought salsa, and that is to add a fruit of some sort to sweeten it up, since I don't use salt.  I'm sure there are lots you could use, but I found grapes work great.  Mango would probably be good too.

Ingredients:
1 can tomatoes (no salt)
a little bit of chopped red onion
a little bit of got pepper, or I just use a little chipotle powder
cilantro if you like it
bell pepper (any color) if you happen to have one around
a handful of grapes, chopped
anything else you think would be good

Combine it into a bowl, stir, serve. It tastes as good or better after sitting for a while in the fridge but is good at any point.

Yesterday's version before stirring:  tomatoes, orange bell pepper, cilantro, red onion, grapes, chipotle powder:

after stirring:

today's version--can tomatoes, cilantro, grapes, some chopped yellow tomato (didn't have bell peppers), chipotle powder:

This week's salsa

My salsa recipe varies depending on what I have in the fridge or garden, which was not much today. But it turned out quite quite tasty.

Ingredients:

16 oz can tomatoes, drained (or 2-3 medium fresh tomatoes)

1 carrot, peeled, cut into 2-3" chunks

juice of 1/2 orange

juice of 1/2 lime

some cilantro and dill (and/or other herb)

I used the carrot for thickening. I used a high-powered blender instead of food processor in order to pulverize the carrot. So in the blender, put in the carrot, tomatoes, and juice, and blend until smooth. then add the cilantro and dill and blend just a bit until they are chopped but not pulverized. Tastes yummy.

salsa

This is simple and yummy. It makes a great soup too!

Ingredients:

1 16-oz can tomatoes (or 1-2 tomatoes from the garden when available)

Small handful fresh cilantro, or to taste

chunk of zucchini, peeled, and cucumber, peeled. about 3" long each, or a few oz total

1-2 Tbsp red onion or scallions or any kind of onion (i.e., not much)

1/2 red or yellow or orange (or green) bell pepper

juice of 1/2 lemon (less or more to taste)

sweet corn (optional)

peas (optional)

Blend the tomatoes and zucchini/cucumber in a blender. Add in the lemon juice onion, bell pepper and cilantro and pulse to chop but not puree. If you want, add some sweet corn and/or peas.

You can make a double batch, eat a bowl for yourself as soup and serve up the rest to your guests with killer tostada chips (yes, I'm willing to poison my guests with their favorite foods), or you can make healthy chips by slicing and baking corn tortillas (unsalted); 5-10 minutes at 350 F works for me. Or eat with fresh veggies--peppers, celery, carrots.