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!!