Homemade Salsa (even in the dead of winter!)

Every summer, I plant a weed patch/garden and then work toward the goal of canning the produce so that we can enjoy the bounty during the winter months. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't... This year was, unfortunately a "doesn't," as I lost my legal assistant right as the tomatoes and jalapenos were ready and I was very busy at the office and my produce went to waste. I literally have not gone near my garden since late summer, because it is a sad reminder of that very fact. Oh well - there is always this year!!

Today's Primary Suspects:

Roma tomatoes (about 7), half of a large red onion, 2-3 jalapenos, and one bunch of cilantro

We'll talk about the rest of the ingredients later.

One of our very favorite things to make and can is homemade salsa! Last week, I found some nice-looking Roma tomatoes on sale and decided to give it a go at making some fresh salsa with lowly grocerystore produce. I figured that if it tasted good enough, I could close my eyes and pretend like it's July and there isn't a foot of snow on the ground here. It was delish!






I have just in the last year decided that cilantro is an herb of the gods. Like, I can't cook Mexican food without a big bunch of it being involved. Like I dream of it at night. Like I want to marry it. OK, it's not really that great, but you get the idea. You do NOT want to use the dried stuff that comes in a jar. Ick. I mean, it's probably okay if you have never tasted fresh cilantro, but I honestly wouldn't even bother making fresh salsa unless I have the fresh cilantro - it's just that darn good.



Anyway, the challenge with cooking with it is that it has rather tough stems and it is very time-consuming to pull all those little leaves off before chopping. So, I figured out a trick that makes it much less bothersome. I hold the bunch of cilantro with my left hand (the leaves pointing toward the right). Next, I hold a fork with my right hand and put the tines down so that the tines are pointing straight down amongst the stems and pull the fork to the right, keeping the tines against the cutting board. I continue doing this until my left hand is left pretty much just holding stems. The leaves pull right off of the stems as I drag the fork.


Does that make even one little whit of sense at all? I hope.

Here is the cutting board filled with everything chopped up. Ta-da! Mucho beautiful. Or something like that.

Now, I want you to meet my long-time best friend in the kitchen. It is sometimes called a Bench Scraper and I have also heard it called a Dough Scraper. I call it The Metal Scraper-Thing. Whatever you call it, you want one in your kitchen. I almost always include one when I give a wedding shower gift.

It works great for scooping up the veggies and putting them into the bowl. Another day, I will show you its awesomeness when working with dough. Before then, go buy one. If you want to. Or not. Nevermind.

After you have all the veggies in the bowl, we move on to the "extras." Start with about 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. You can use regular salt. Or Kosher salt. Or solar-evaporated sea salt. Now us, since it's wintertime here and we're on a tight budget, I usually just go scrape some off of the road after the salt truck passes through. Using my Dough Scraper, of course. Just kidding. Maybe. I also could, in a pinch, go out to the dairy barn and scrape some off of the cows' salt block. I doubt if a little cow saliva ever killed anyone.

I just squirt about 2 teaspoons or so of lime juice in the bowl, but I don't really measure. I also scoop in about 2 tablespoons of minced garlic. That is enough to keep vampires away, so use less if you are going to be in the same room with another person in the next 24 hours. Just a warning.

After making tons of homemade salsa over the years, I have found that the number one mistake people make is not adding enough salt. The right amount of salt really brings out the freshness of the ingredients. Add it slowly, however, because you don't want it to taste salty, but rather just have enough to enhance the flavors.

Ta-da! The finished product. Just grab some tortilla chips and dig in. The men in the house will love you forever for makin this.

S.B. Mom

Friday Night Pizza

Every Friday that we are home is officially Homemade Pizza Night at our house. The girls take turns helping me prepare the pizzas and the evening is always full of laughing and special time together. Sheesh...I sound like a Hallmark card - let's just get back to cooking.

Anyway, we have tried many varieties of topping over the 3 or so years that we have had this tradition going, and we tried a new one last night that is really worth sharing. Hubs and Zippy (our 11 year old son) are huge fans of buffalo hot wings. They like things spicy, but not put-the-toilet-paper-in-the-freezer hot, so I set out to come up with a recipe for pizza that would have some of the hot wing flavor but be not too hot.

I will discuss how to make an awesome homemade pizza crust another day, but trust me when I say it is very simple and sooooo worth the effort!!

Here is what I came up with:

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cut into small pieces
2 T. butter
3/4 c. Frank's Red Hot
1/4 c. BBQ sauce (I like Sweet Baby Ray's)
1 c. ranch dressing
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
prepared 16-inch pizza crust

Preheat the oven to 425°. After you cook the chicken, take it out of the pan and cut into small pieces (sort of diced). Throw the chicken back into the pan over medium heat and add the butter, Red Hot, and BBQ sauce. Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes. Spread the ranch dressing over the pizza crust to within about an inch of the edge. Okay, the thing you have to understand about my cooking is that I am all about excess. Like if a little ranch is good, keep on adding more until it's almost too much, but not quite. Follow that? Anyway, I probably added about 1 1/4 cup or so. Next, spread the chicken mixture over the ranch dressing and sprinkle the cheese on top. Bake until the crust is brown and the cheese is bubbly, about 10 minutes. Watch it carefully, though because at this high temp, there is a fine line between done and "oh crap-the smoke detector is going off and one of the kids needs to go out and throw this thing over the fence into the pasture."

One last nugget of info regarding pizza - I discovered about 6 months ago that if you mix up 1-2 T of melted butter with about a half a teaspoon of garlic salt mixed into it, and brush that on the crust as soon as the pizza comes out of the oven, you will have people begging for your "secret recipe." There is just something about warm, melty butter and garlic that makes everything better. Of course, you are listening to someone who, as a teenager, would put garlic butter on her toast in the morning when we didn't have jelly, so consider the source, ok?

There. Now you have the perfect recipe to keep those men in the family very happy. My dad once told me: "There are two ways to a man's heart, and you better go through his stomach!" Nuff said.

The word you never want to hear your Grandpa say...

OK, so every Thursday for about eleven years, my Grandma and I, along with my kids, get together to eat lunch and usually go to the park or something. Yesterday, I call to tell her I am running late, as usual, (because I was baking cookies to take to her; check out the recipe and pictures below; they were YUMMY!!) and she had already left for the restaurant, so I got their answering machine. The message, in Grandpa's voice, was as follows: "Petals are falling off of the flowering trees, but we are still ERECT, so please leave a message after the beep and we will return your call." Leave a message??? After hearing my Grandpa say the word "erect"?!?!?!?!?? Sheesh. I could hardly drive, let alone think to leave a message. And, what does the word "erect" even really have to do with flowers on trees anyway? Sort of like he was looking for a sentence to use the word "erect" in. OK, enough; I am trying to cleanse my brain of the trauma now.


Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 Tblsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 teas. baking soda
1/2 teas. salt
2 cups chocolate chips

Cream first six ingredients until real fluffy. Add next three. Stir chips in by hand. Drop 1/4 cup size dough balls about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake at 325 degrees for 15 to 17 minutes. Edges will just be turning brown. Remove to cooling rack. Makes 18 cookies - really BIG, chewy cookies.

Weird quotes from the wee ones, Part 1 (and a few great recipes, too!)

OK, so there are certain things as a mother that make you stop and think, "Wow, only a mother ever hears/says/thinks a statement/question/order like that." Like hearing yourself say out loud, "Sweetie, blow your nose real hard and maybe the rock you shoved in there will come out." (yes, I had the opportunity to say this last week with our almost-3 year old, and yes, the pebble did come shooting out as anticipated) So, anyway, I am taking the kids (ages 9 and 10) to school this morning and the silence is broken when my 10 year old daughter says in a sad, sad voice, "I'm glad you're my mom, but I sure wish you were an Origami master." Huh? I guess she has a new Korean friend at school whose mom rocks because she IS an Origami master. So, anyway, I can't do Origami, but I did make some awesome homemade soft pretzels today and am going to try and post a picture of one of them. The kids are begging me to make caramel corn to eat while we watch American Idol tonight, so I may end up doing that later, too. These pretzels taste similar to those at Auntie Anne's, but they are much better, if I must say so myself! For dinner, I have our favorite roast in the Crock Pot, so I will try to post that recipe as well.

Aunt Annie's Pretzels

Preheat oven to 550 degrees. Grease a baking sheet.

Mix together: 1 1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp brown sugar
Dash of salt
1 1/2 cups warm (110°)water
Let sit for 5 minutes.
Add:4 cups bread flour..Knead well and then let rise for about 1 hour.Take a piece of dough and roll and shape into pretzel. Easiest way to shape--roll into a rope, whatever size you prefer, pinch ends of rope then bring ends of rope to other side of circle.Dip in mixture of warm baking soda and water (2 tsp baking soda and 2 cups warm water). Sprinkle coarse salt on top if you wish. Place on prepared baking sheet.Bake at 550 degrees for approx. 8 minutesWhile still hot brush them with melted butter & honey (approx 2 tbsp honey to 1/2 lb butter). (note: I just used melted butter)


Here is the roast recipe - it ROCKS!:

DIE FOR CROCK POT ROAST
1 beef roast, large enough to fit in your crockpot
1 pkg. Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix
1 pkg. brown gravy mix
1 pkg. Italian dressing mix
1/2 C. warm water

Place roast in crockpot. Mix all three envelopes and sprinkle on top of roast. Pour water in the bottom of the crockpot. Cover and cook on low 6 to 7 hours. The gravy is phenomenal!!