Neener's Fresh & Chunky Homemade Salsa

It's no secret that my food allergies have opened up a whole new world of eating, a smaller world in some ways but a more creative one for sure. I have found myself tweaking old recipes, tweaking new ones and occasionally following the directions :). I am pleased to report that most of the time, they turn out pretty good, if I do say so myself (uh, I think I just did lol). I am learning a lot, by trial and error mostly, about what flours work better for cakes vs cookies, puffed pancakes vs muffins, etc. I've thought about starting a food blog but I'm not sure I pay enough attention to accurately share many of my recipes. Maybe I'll start keeping better track, it will certainly make repeating them easier lol, and I would love to give you guys the opportunity to try some of them!

At any rate, until I start one (or don't haha) here is a recipe for some fresh salsa I "invented" using a combination of a few recipes I've found. I've always LOVED salsa but the vinegar they use in commercial brands is currently a "no no" for me so I had to come up with something else, or else die of salsa-deprivation...what? That can't happen? Not sure I believe you ;-). SO, I tried to pay attention the last time I made it to exactly how I make it so I could share it with some friends who asked for the recipe and decided to share it with everyone while I was at it!

Needed:

• 6 large hot house tomatoes (it doesn't have to be hot house, Romas work well but you'd need about 8-10 of them)
• 1/2 large yellow onion
• 1 TBSP lemon juice (or lime if you prefer)
• 3 medium jalapenos
• 1/8c finely chopped cilantro
• 1 tsp cumin

Directions:

1. Finely chop the onion, place in a non-stick pan and heat until they are soft. Don't brown them, this just takes the bite off the onion. I have made the salsa with raw red onion before, which was good but I thought the onion slightly over powered the salsa. If you want, try the red onion but I would use less. When onions are soft, let them cool a little and put in bowl or whatever you intend to store/serve the salsa in. I use a 1.2 quart serve-n-save one but obviously you can use whatever you want lol. The recipe makes about 4c of salsa.
2. Cut tomatoes into quarters, remove the seeds and finely chop soft.
3. Finely chop the cilantro, I actually use a little chopper thing (technical term unknown:) and puree it, cilantro is really hard to chop up fine, especially with dull knives lol. Once chopped to preferred size, add to bowl.
4. Cut the ends off the jalapenos, slice open and remove seeds. Dice into teeny tiny pieces, or larger if you prefer haha. This is the part where I caution you to either use non-coated gloves or make sure your fingernails are short and you have one of those fingernail scrubber things (again technical term unknown). I cannot even say how many times I have burned my mouth, fingers (once my whole hand burned because I just managed to spread the juices vs clean them off) and even my EYES because I didn't scrub hard enough after using jalapenos. Trust me, it's no bueno. When you've chopped them up, add them to the bowl.
5. Add lemon juice and cumin
6. Stir all ingredients together, add salt to taste. Let the salsa chill in refrigerator for an hour or so before serving so all ingredients can mesh together.
7. ENJOY!!

Now I have to say that I really really love this salsa and it's been a hit every time I've served it. Like all things I make, I think it's good to tweak things in order to better suit your tastes. If you like lots of onion, try the red onion or add more. If you like big chunks, chop bigger and visa versa. If you want it hotter, use more jalepinos or hotter peppers, my husband wants me to try habanaros, I told him sure, when I find good gloves to use. There is a lot of room for tweaking in this recipe, I really love cilantro and cumin so sometimes I add more etc.. you get the idea. I am all for stepping outside the box when it comes to cooking and trying new things so if you don't like the recipe like it is, mess with it and see if you can make it yours :).