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 :).

Easy & Delicious Potato Soup

Now I'm really going everywhere with this blog lol. I really like the freedom I have found by pulling away from so many deep blogs and throwing in some light-hearted stuff as well. That's what my life is; easy and hard, deep thoughts and shallow ones, laughter and tears...well you get the picture. Anyway, enough digression. I thought I would share with you a super yummy and super easy recipe invented (I'm pretty sure, don't quote me on it) by the original Petty Crocker, my father-in-law. He made it while he was here for Christmas and David and I were both hooked. I warn you I am big on "seasoning to taste" so the measurements I will give you are definitely flexible. I am also big on modifying recipes, so I will have a few suggestions for alternatives or add-ins as well. I'm all about being creative in the kitchen these days, but for those of you who prefer to follow a recipe exact, here is the general combination of ingredients.

• 6 cups water-----I think it would be even better/more flavorful if you used a vegetable broth or chicken broth here but I haven't tried that yet but I will!
• 6 medium potatoes-----whichever kind you prefer, I think yukon gold would be really good but, again, I haven't tried them with it yet...I'll let you know
• 1 c chopped onion----sweet onion, white or yellow. Here is where I mention the season taste, I like onions so I used a little more, if you don't like them, use a little less
• 5 stalks celery--- or you can use broccoli, I've had it both ways and it's good, just chop the broccoli up fine. Again, I love vegetables so I usually add a little extra
• 1 8 oz package cream cheese
• ***Ground hamburger or sausage***--- this is optional, though I recommend it. I actually use lean ground turkey flavored with an italian seasoning (a combination of thyme, garlic, marjoram, rosemary, basil & sage) which makes it taste a lot like ground sausage. I like it because it's a lower fat way to get that sausage taste and let's face it, sausage and potatoes is gg000ooodd.... :). If you want to go the turkey route add the seasoning(s) a little at a time, a long with salt, until you get the flavor you want.

Chop potatoes, onion and celery into smaller chunks and put them on stove in 6c water (or vegetable broth) to cook. If you choose to add meat, brown the meat while the vegetables are cooking, salting to taste. When potatoes are done and starting to fall apart, add the meat (once it's cooked!) to the soup. Take the cream cheese and cut it into small chunks and add to soup. Stir all together until cream cheese is all melted. Salt to taste and serve! The recipe yields about 12 cups.

***If soup is too thin you can add a more little cream cheese. Or, if you want a lower fat way to thicken it, spoon some of the soup into a food processor, puree it and add back to soup. Repeat this until soup is thickened to your liking!

See, I told you it was easy and it's SO good! Plus the wonderful thing about soup is leftovers. I love having something quick and easy but not full of junk. If any of you try it and make modifications please share! Or if you just try it and like it!

For those of you who are dieting, it's about 180 calories per cup of soup. Not too shabby for a creamy soup! You could cut calories (but likely a bit of taste too) by using a lower fat cream cheese if you so desire. Also, that approximation (using the recipe builder on livestrong.com) is with water not vegetable broth which would add some calories, though not a ton.

Mrs. Petty Crocker

Tonight I slow roasted my first whole chicken from scratch. Some of you may be surprised at the word "first", others at the phrase "from scratch" (or perhaps the entire first sentence left your mouth agape), depending on how long you have known me :). It's true, using a recipe I found on allrecipes.com, I cleaned, prepped and roasted an entire four pound chicken. I even took some liberty with the recipe using real onions, extra chicken stock and adding potatoes. I even intend to keep the bones to make my own chicken stock for soup, oh yeah I said my own stock.Seriously, this whole "ridiculous food allergies" has really forced me to expand my culinary pursuits, my former methods shot down when I could no longer use pre-mixes or boxed foods (you really don't want to know how much unnecessary stuff they put in those things...unless you want to start cooking like I have to:). The other day I made fried rice with some left-over basmati rice. Again, I took some liberty by using chicken thighs, omitting ginger (cause I didn't have any) and using sesame oil, because I didn't have peanut and corn/soy oil were out. It too was wonderful!

I am not blogging to brag about my culinary skills but to marvel at how much better it is to accept things as they are and run with it as best you can. Do I wish I wasn't allergic to corn, wheat and soy, absolutely! I am, however, becoming more certain with each passing day (& passing up of foods I used to love) that if I ever do somehow manage to eliminate my allergies I will gain 100 pounds! Ok, maybe not 100. The truth is being forced to read labels has also forced me to pay attention to what I am putting in my body and boy is there a whole lot of junk out there. I doubt that I would go back to eating many of the foods I used to enjoy (except bread and M&Ms :) simply because now I really know what's in them. Following the discovery of my allergies and my initial "woe is me" period, followed with a few" what the heck am I going to eat?!?" months, I finally decided to "put on my big girl panties" and make the best of it. It has forced me to really cook, search for recipes, experiment with baking and I find I enjoy it. Even cooler, I am not so bad at it and it's always good to find something you're good at. I am really kinda (I said kinda, I really miss M&Ms and bread:) thankful for my allergies for these reasons.

So the next time life gives you lemons, maybe you could make yourself a yummy lemon scone or lemon cookies (cause lets face it, those are better than lemonade). Making the best of whatever your situation is will really help you to find joy in the meantime. I know that sounds very cliche', but speaking from experience (& a tummy full of roasted chicken) it really does work.

***NOTE*** for those wondering what the heck the title of this blog means, my husband used to love baking when we were first dating & his roommates called him "Petty Crocker", I adopted the name Mrs. Petty Crocker for myself in lieu of all my recent culinary achievements