Recipes: Salsa Three Ways

It's no secret, I love me a good salsa. Not only do my husband and I love making salsa together, but it helps us snack on something that is pretty healthy, and inexpensive. Just a few years ago, I would only like runny salsa, just dip my chip in a teeny tiny tad, and shake off any chunks. Wow, have my tastes changed.

For our intro to salsa, plus tips on using and freezing veggies and herbs for later use, visit my post here. Also, you can doctor up any store bought salsa as well by using a few ingredients listed.

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♥ Basically Amazing Salsa Recipe (Chiptole Chicken) ♥

1/2 can well rinsed black beans

1 tomato, chopped

1/4 red onion, chopped

1 poblano pepper, chopped (or jalepeno if you like spicy)

handful fresh cilantro, chopped (we grow our own, it's super easy!)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 T lemon juice

2 T olive oil (we usually skip this)

2 T vinegar (we usually skip this too)

salt to taste

Mix all, let stand together at room temp for approx 30 mins to let the flavors meld together. This salsa is really good with corn (like a pico de gallo) and cooked chicken chunks in a bit of Tabasco Chiptole sauce chunks added in. Top it on rice with a bit of shredded cheese and you've got your own Chipotle chicken.

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♥ Tangy Strawberry Salsa ♥

1 medium onion, chopped

2 medium avacados, chopped (not smashed, this is not guacamole!!)

4 roma tomatoes, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

huge handful of fresh cilantro, chopped

8 strawberries, chopped
1 squeezed lemon
salt and pepper to taste

After chopping the tomato, avocado and onion, we put it in a pan on the stove and do a light stir frying for about a minute. It helps to add flavor just in case they aren't totally ripe just yet, and makes a nice warmth for serving on chips. Then we mix it all together in a bowl.

I know what you are thinking, "What, strawberries?" I'm telling you, it's awesome. If you ever over do it with onions and garlic (which we tend to do because we love both), tossing in some strawberries balances the flavor and adds something not too sweet and noticeable, but just enough as a 'secret ingredient'.

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♥ Grilled Steak with Avocado-Mango Salsa ♥

I got this recipe from HEB. But, it's still awesome. If you don't have an HEB, you can get recipes here.

For the salsa (serve over steak but also amazing with chips)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 medium avacados, chopped (not smashed, this is not guacamole!!)

4 roma tomatoes, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

huge handful of fresh cilantro, chopped

1 mango, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
1 squeezed lime
1 c crumbled queso fresco (I didn't do this part, but if you do, it's super good).
salt and pepper to taste

For the steak:
4 boneless beef ribeye steaks, cut 3/4 inch thick (we used 2 super thin cut cheapo steaks).
2 tb olive oil
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp EACH of: coarse salt, pepper, oregano, ground cumin
1 cup Texas on the Plate Bodacious Soppin' Sauce or any marinade you like (I'm an A-1 gal).

1. Combine all steak ingredients in bowl and rub on both sides of steak and let sit for 15 mins.
2.  In the meantime, heat grill or charcoals. (we just did it on the stove).
3. Combine all salsa ingredients in a bowl and set aside at room temperature.
4. Grill steaks 6-9 mins per side for med-rare to med doneness. Baste generously after flipping if grilling.
5. Serve salsa, chutney style on steaks.

Herb Crusted Pork Chops Recipe

My new favorite recipe. I combined a few ideas until I came up with my perfect combination. It's great for picky eaters and quick and easy. You can also use chicken instead of pork, and it will be awesome, but the crust is a little more juicy from cooking. Amazingly, it isn't as pink, dry and burnt up looking as my photo suggests! Serve with potatoes*, greens beans, garlic bread*, salad or fresh fruit for a well rounded meal.

♥ Ingredients ♥

4 boneless porkchops

2 cups Progresso Italian Style bread crumbs

1 packet Lipton Onion Soup/Dip mix

1 c Girard's Light Caesar Salad dressing (this dressing works best)

1/3 c French's Spicy Brown Mustard (any Dijon will do)

1. Preheat oven to 375

2. Mix caesar dressing and brown mustard in a bowl.

3. In a seperate bowl, mix bread cups and dry onion soup mix. 

4. Coat pork chops in dressing mix, put in ziplock bag and marinate in fridge for up to 2 hours. Or don't marinate, (I never do) either way, it will be good.

5. Coat the dressing covered pork chops in the bread crumb mix. Place pork chops in baking sish, cover with foil and bake for approx 25 mins or until done.

image via life ambrosia

♥ Garlic Rosemary Roasted Potatoes ♥

Our favorite side potatoes, made famous by my mother in law. They are great unpeeled, or peeled.

Cut into 2 chunks. Put in roasting pan and toss in olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, lots of garlic and basil. Cover with foil and bake at 375 for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

image via j&d's

♥ Garlic Bread ♥

Soften about 2 cups butter (I use Smart Choice). Add fresh chopped basil and freshly minced garlic to butter and mix. Cut a store bought french bread loaf and butter insides with garlic butter. Place on pan and bake for about 6 minutes.

Cut into slices and fight over the last piece.

Herb Crusted Salmon and Asparagus Recipe

This is our dinner. I'm not a big fish person, and when I do make it, dill and lemon juice are usually involved... and I was just not in the mood for that.

So, using this recipe as inspiration, I came up with my own ingredients list since I didn't have half of what was called for. I found this site on substituting for teriyaki sauce and the A1, oj and Worcestershire turned out even better than teriyaki. And, even though we have gourmet Parmesan cheese given to us by a cheese scientist, I forgot to add it!

♥ Herb Crusted Salmon Steak ♥

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1 egg
1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

1 teaspoon basil

1/4 c water

1/2 cup pulp free orange juice

1/2 cup A-1 steak sauce

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon butter

1/4 cup chopped red onion

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 pounds salmon steaks

1. In a shallow, medium bowl mix Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoned bread crumbs, spices.

2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, blend A1, orange juice, butter, red onion and garlic. Cook and stir until onions are tender.

3. Press one side of each salmon steak egg and dredge into the Parmesan cheese mixture. Place steaks crust side up in saucepan with sauce mixture. Cook over medium high heat until most of the liquid is reduced, 10 to 15 minutes, then flip with a spatula. Continue cooking until crust is golden brown and fish is easily flaked with a fork.

♥ Asparagus ♥

 

I usually blanch* asparagus first, to maintain the nutrients and green color, and to stop it from turning mushy during cooking, but I didn't this time, though I would usually suggest it.

 

1 lb fresh asparagus spears

1 tb oilve oil

1-2 cloves crushed garlic

1tb butter (we use smart balance)

salt/pepper to taste

1 tb seseame seeds

 

1. Cut off woody ends

2. Cut asparagus into 1 1/2 inch pieces

3. Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add asparagus, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook on med heat, stirring frequently about 5 mins. Add butter and seseame seeds, cook until done.

 

*to blanch first:

Have a large bowl of ice water ready to go.

Boil a large pot of water. Now, place your asparagus into the boiling water. Cook until the asparagus turns a bright green. The time this will take will depend on how thick your asparagus stalks are. Usually takes about 2-5 minutes.

Remove asparagus from the pot with a slotted spoon or tongs and place into ice-water bath to stop the cooking process. This will tenderize the stalks a bit more, but they'll remain deliciously crunchy.

We served it with steamed rice with a touch of salt and pepper and butter and naan bread (we love our starches around here) and it was delicious... even for people who don't like fish, like me, I even ate more than 1 serving!

Homefront: Soul Salsa

We used to make our own salsa and guacamole all the time, and we eventually just stopped as life got busier. I had a really good food chopper, but gave it to Goodwill (brand new) b/c we never used it. As we've begun cooking more, we have re-realized how fun it is to prepare dinners (and snacks) together.

We love standing at our tiny kitchen counter together, chopping our own herbs and veggies. That 15 minutes or so that would other wise be "saved" by using a food chopper, is one of our favorite parts of these moments. We get busy in our own worlds, with the kids, work... but making a little snack and spending that time talking, laughing, chopping... it's good for us. Almost therapeutic. Of course, snacking on the delicious treat is most excellent as well! Do you have something like that for you or your relationship? It may even be something you do not even realize. Once you figure out what that activity might be, try and cultivate it and make it part of your weekly routine.

Salsa Recipe:

1/2 can well rinsed black beans

1 tomato, chopped

1/4 red onion, chopped

1 poblano pepper, chopped (or jalepeno if you like spicy)

handful fresh cilantro, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 T lemon juice

2 T olive oil

2 T vinegar (though we usually skip this)

salt to taste

Sliced avacodo, shredded cheese and chips for serving. Or serve over rice and cooked cubed seasoned chicken with corn for a "Chipotle" like meal.

Combine all, seal in airtight container and let stand for approx 30 mins for the flavors to blend together. I like to put a slice of avocado on my chip, dip in the salsa and then sprinkle on a little cheese. Delicious.

*tips... I freeze onion and herbs, and some other veggies I chop!! I only use a handful in my meals, but I put it in almost everything I make.  So, when I chop a fresh onion (or bell pepper or whatever), I use what I need, then cut up the rest and put it in an airtight freezer bag and freeze. (Some veggies need to be blanched first for the best freezing, and some veggies don't freeze well at all, this link has good advice).  Of course, they are best when going to be cooked in the next meal, as they lose their crispness when they thaw, but still excellent if you are going to be using them soon. Cilantro is easy to grow and freeze too,  read about it here, including the comments.

gourmet traveler 88 has a great directions for freezing herbs

Freezing makes it easy when cooking, just throw in a little frozen onion and it cooks just fine. For herbs, chop them up, and fill an ice cube tray with them. Cover with a bit of water and freeze. When cooking, just plop in your herbed ice cube, here's an easy tutorial with pictures at bananablender. You can do the same thing with pesto herb mixes (directions here) as well .

Happy chopping!

Nutty Red Pepper Chicken Tortellini Recipe

I got the basics of this recipe from some magazine, but I changed it up a bit to make it a family favorite. It's quite easy, feeds a lot and relatively cheap. Add a side salad, maybe garlic bread sticks and some fresh fruit for a satisfying meal, that even most picky eaters will like.

Red Pepper & Green Bean Tortellini

Ingredients

1 pkg. cheese tortellini

4 chicken breasts, cut up in 1 3/4 inch pieces

2 TB olive oil

1 red bell pepper, julienned

1/4 chopped red onion (about 3/4 inch)

1/2 c chopped walnuts (adds a light crunch without a nutty taste)

1 can whole green beans (or use fresh)

1 pint heavy whipping cream

2 TB sour cream (optional)

2 cloves crushed garlic

sea salt, pepper, basil

Parmesan cheese for garnish/taste

Directions

Prepare cheese tortellini, drain, keep warm and set aside.

Heat  olive oil, then saute' garlic and onion on stove.

Add in red pepper, green beans and walnuts until tender.

Set aside.

Add chicken to pan & salt and pepper. Stir fry until done. Add in the nut/veggie mix to the chicken. Add heavy whipping cream, sour cream, basil and any other spices.

Bring sauce to a boil, then cover and simmer for approx 10-15 mins, stirring occasionally.

Remove covered pan to unheated surface and toss in cheese tortellini to coat.

Sauce will thicken as it stands.

Serve topped with a light sprinkling of Parmesan cheese, and freshly ground black pepper.

*ps, I'm not a stickler to cutting the exact sizes I mentioned, I make things a little small since I have toddlers, but you don't have to, (with the exception of onion, chopping too small will result in a very oniony taste).

*pss, I don't usually set the veggies aside then do the chicken. I usually mix the chicken in with the onions and garlic too, then add the rest of the veggies/nuts when the chicken is done, but sometimes, I like the veggies to be a little more pan seared. Either way works.