Garden Fresh Salsa – The Perfect Use for Tomatoes From Your Garden!

Tags

fresh, salsa, tomato, vegan, vegetarian, zucchini

One of my favorite foods in the world is salsa!!! And it gets even better when it’s made with tomatoes fresh from your own garden! If you’ve never grown you own tomatoes, you need to give it a try! Store bought tomatoes have a fraction of the flavor as home grown. I had lot of tomatoes on the vine. I had originally planted them with the intention of making marinara sauce, but salsa was calling to me!!! This recipe is easy to make. It just involves some chopping, but it is worth the effort! It is so flavorful and when you’re making your own you can adjust the heat level to your liking. You can’t beat the flavors of salsa made with fresh, garden grown tomatoes, cilantro and peppers!!!

I find the salsa is best made ahead and allowed to chill in the fridge. Letting the salsa rest a few hours to a day, allows all the flavors to mingle and blend together nicely.

Healthy tip: For me it’s all about the salsa! The chips are a vehicle to shovel the salsa in my mouth. Another vehicle I use is sliced zucchini. I put my mandolin slicer to work and slice up a bunch. It’s a great alternative for all kinds of dips.

Garden Fresh Tomato Salsa

4 cups tomatoes, diced

1/2 red onion, diced

Salt

Pepper

Seasoned salt

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Juice of 1 lime

1/2 tsp Red pepper flakes

1 clove garlic, diced or pressed

1 1/2 Serrano chilies, seeded and diced very finely

1 tbsp olive oil

In a bowl, mix tomatoes, onion, cilantro, lime juice, red pepper flakes. In a sauce pan, saute garlic and chilies in olive oil until slightly browned. Add garlic and chilies to other ingredients in bowl and stir well. Store in fridge for several hours before serving. You can eat immediately, but the flavor is better if allowed to mingle a bit.

Enjoy!

Pineapple Mango Salsa – A Gorgeous Party Dish!!!

Tags

fresh, jalapeno, lime, mango, Pineapple, salsa, tomato, vegan, vegetarian

Yesterday, we had a college graduation party for my oldest daughter and her husband. Whew! Got one kid through college! I had seen varieties of this salsa online and thought it was just stunning. This party was the perfect opportunity to make this visibly beautiful, wonderful tasting salsa! This salsa had so many great, fresh flavors! The sweetness of the pineapple and mango mixed with the savory flavors of tomato and onion with a little bit of spice from the jalapenos!

At the party, we enjoyed this with tortilla chips. Tonight I’m planning to serve it over fish. I’m hoping we can find a beautiful trout or maybe some tilapia. This will be delicious too!!!

Pineapple Mango Salsa

1 fresh pineapple

2 fresh mangoes, finely diced

1 small sweet onion (I used a yellow onion)

1 medium, fresh jalapeno, finely diced (Reduce or increase to get the amount of heat you want. Taste test!!!)

1-2 limes, juiced (This depends on the size and juiciness of the limes)

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

4 Roma tomatoes, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Cut about 1/3 off the pineapple, leaving the stem intact. Before cutting, I laid down the pineapple to see if there was a side where it rested solidly on it’s side. Then I made my cut directly on the opposite side of this. You want to make sure it will make a stable serving bowl for you. Hollow out your pineapple. Finely dice the meaty parts and discard the hard core section. In a separate bowl, mix all ingredients.

This is best made up to 24 hours in advance, so flavors can mingle. It will make more than what will fit in your pineapple serving bowl, so store in a sealable bowl. I stirred it several times during the 24 hours, making sure the flavors were mingling well.

Everyone just loved this salsa!!! I hope you do too!!!

Enjoy!


Mexican Spiced Chicken With Tomatillo/Avocado Salsa

Tags

avocado, Chicken, Cooking, Food, main dish, Mexican, salsa, tomatillo, tomatillos

 
In one of the many cooking shows I watch someone was making a tomatillo/avocado salsa. I hadn’t cooked with tomatillos in a while and this was sounding yummy, so I picked up some supplies at the grocery store and started concocting!

I was thinking that a fresh salsa over chicken sounded great and it was! This dish was so colorful and had the bold, spicy flavors that I love. It made plenty of salsa and we have some leftover. Think I’ll have a snack later! This salsa was just fantastic and stands up by itself, so you could also serve this as an appetizer with chips or veggies for dipping.

Mexican Spiced Chicken With Tomatillo/Avocado Salsa

Salsa Recipe:

7-8 small – medium tomatillos, diced

2 medium – large tomatoes, diced

1/2 red onion, chopped

1/2 bunch cilantro diced

1 large serrano pepper,finely chopped

1 avocado, diced

Juice of 1/2 lime

Salt and pepper

In a lightly greased frying pan saute diced tomatillos until tender. While they are cooking add some salt and pepper. Remove from heat and allow to cool. While these are cooling, prepare all your other salsa ingredients and mix together. Once tomatillos have cooled to room temperature, toss them into your salsa. Add salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate salsa until cool.

Chicken Recipe:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts

¼ cup all purpose flour

1/8 – 1/4 cup taco seasoning

In a resealable bag, mix flour and taco seasoning. Add chicken to bag and shake until coated. Lightly spray a baking pan with non-stick spray. Place chicken in the pan and lightly spray the chicken with the non-stick spray. Bake for 40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through in a 350 degree oven. Remove from oven and spoon salsa over chicken.