Salsa

My wonderful honey likes to have chips and salsa while he watches his team play. Since his team was playing in a bowl game, I decided to make salsa for him at home. I found this recipe on Recipezaar.com.

Start with 1 1/2 pounds of firm ripe tomatoes. Dice these into salsa-sized pieces. The recipe says 3/8 inch pieces, but I think you can determine the size you like for yourself. Once all the tomatoes are chopped to your liking, place them in a colander to drain for half an hour. While you wait, you need to continue to chop, mince, or dice and layer on the next few ingredients.
1/4 Cup minced fresh cilantro leaves. Don't go by my picture for amounts. I used too much (don't worry it turned out okay). Chop the cilantro pretty fine, more than this. I had only just begun in this picture. Once you have a nice fine pile of green bits add it to the top of the tomatoes.

The recipe calls for 1/2 cup diced red onion. I only had this white onion, so I used it instead. Chop the onion in to very small bits, but not mush. Then add it to the bowl. I hope you have not been stirring. Just pile everything on at this point. I'll let you know when to mix it all together.


One clove of garlic, mince it well, then add it to the top of the onion.


Jalapenos - The recipe called for one large. I ended up with three medium, using the seeds and ribs from only one. This is the jalapeno with the seeds and ribs removed. You can save the ribs and seeds to add more heat later if you want. Mince the rest of the jalapeno into small bits. Once this is done, add the jalapeno on top of the pile.

At this point, wait the remaining time left in the half hour of draining time. Once the timer buzzes (no I really did not use a timer), discard the juice, wipe out the bowl, and dump the colander into the bowl.

Okay I messed up this next part a little so follow the instructions, not necessarily my pictures.

You need 2-6 teaspoons of lime juice. One well squeezed lime will do it. Start by adding 2 teaspoons to the tomato pile.

Here is where the mistake comes in. Add the salt and pepper to the tomatoes and stuff, not to the lime juice.Add a pinch of black pepper (fresh ground if you have it).


Add 1/2 teaspoon salt (you can add more later if you want to).

At this point, toss the salsa to combine.

Sprinkle in a tablespoon of sugar.

Now the fun part, taste. Adjust your seasonings. Add more salt, jalapeno, lime juice, black pepper, what ever you want. This recipe is great for adjusting to your own tastes.

Serve with chips. We like the scoop type here in our house.Enjoy everyone!!

Chipped Ham Barbecue

This recipe is so easy. . .a four year old could make it.  In fact, my four year old did make it for our "out the door" dinner tonight.  We occasionally have an evening activity to rush off to and must have a quick, low prep meal.  My friend Joanie gave me this one and it is the quickest and lowest prep there is.

Here's what you need: 

2 pounds of chipped ham from the deli
1 18 oz. bottle of barbecue sauce (we use KC Masterpiece)

Here's what you do:

Ask your four year old to get out clean scissors and roll up her sleeves. 

Chop (or cut) the chipped ham in to roughly one inch pieces and place them in a crock pot.  (If you don't actually need to occupy a small child for any amount of time, simply cut the chipped ham with a knife.  It'll go much faster.)

Empty the bottle of barbecue sauce into the crock pot,

Set the slow cooker to low (or high if you have less time), you're goal is to heat it through.  Honestly, if you're in a real hurry, you could do this in a sauce pan on the stove.

Serve on hamburger buns.

That's it!  That's all she wrote!  Add a side dish and you're out the door lickety split.

Welcome

This blog is the result of three sisters who live in three states sharing recipes. These are recipes we have found from other places or have invented ourselves. Most of the time the new recipes turn out pretty well and we will share those. If the dish turns belly up you may never hear about it.

From time to time we will throw in kitchen tips and possibly some tales of cooking with kids (since all together we have 9). So sit back and enjoy. We will cook and share.