Made it Monday and a confession...

Today I'm going to learn you somethin! One of my favorite snacks is salsa. I could put it on ANYTHING I believe. Of course, I do get a little frightened when I read a regular salsa label, there's all sorts of things in there that probably don't belong. Preservatives, colors, artifical flavors. No good. So today I'm going to teach you an easy peasy way to make your own, most of this stuff you probably have on hand.


Lined up on my counter you see I have fresh cilantro, in my green bag, which I truly believe does work because it's been in my fridge for a month now and it hasn't turned all boiled spinachy, apple cider vinegar, a medium onion, 2 cans of diced tomatoes (read the labels, the ingredient should be: tomatoes) clove o garlic and some mexican seasoning. I also usually add some hot sauce and some lime juice, just whatever your taste calls for. This is a great starter and you can doctor it as you like from here.


I'm a home party girl from way back. This is I've found the easiest way to make this salsa, I use the Quick Chef from Tupperware. It'll run you like $50 from the catalog, probably $30 or so from ebay. I believe they're red now. I feel like i have a bit more control with it than I do a food processor though. I toss the cilantro in first, I just wipe down the stalks and pull the leaves off, just a handful will do it.


I just peel and quarter the onion, the quick chef will take care of the rest. Even quartering an onion makes me cry *sniffle*. Once this is tossed in, I give the quick chef a few turns because I want to get that onion pretty fine as well as the cilantro. While they both have a great taste, neither are something you want to get a whole mouthful of!

Now for my pampered chef plug with my garlic press. This thing does get a lot of use in my house! Just one clove will do it.

Now I add 2 cans of diced tomatoes. These are aprox 14oz cans, you can adjust accordingly though.

probably 2T of apple cider vinegar. At this point I really stir it up good with the quick chef and and make sure it's all mixed in well and chopped as course or fine as I want it. Take a taste and add your spices as you like them. Be creative, when you make stuff yourself, it's all about you!

I mentioned my basic bread recipe in my last post that I used for the cinnamon rolls. Here is the basic bread as it is without any doctoring. Made it in my bread machine last night then covered it and let it rise overnight in the fridge. You can let it rise on the counter (or in the microwave) overnight but sometimes it makes it a bit too yeasty for me.

And now the confession. I have a slight obsession with small kitchen appliances. On my counter currently (which means I use them a couple times a week at least) are a toaster oven, bread machine, crock pot, wine opener, electric kettle. A vacuum sealer also makes a frequent appearance. In my pantry live my stand mixer and blender. So yesterday at Goodwill, D didn't have a hard sale when she tried to talk me into this for $5.

A food steamer. She says she uses hers every night. Rice or steamed veggies she says are a snap in this baby. So for right now, it's going to live in my pantry and I'm going to find ways to incorporate it into dinner prep and we'll see where it finds it's permanent home.