To each their own salsa

Salsa is one of those foods that I think almost anyone can like. It can be paired with a million things, from chips to burritos (Or if you're like my dad, you can just eat it straight). And if you're not using salsa that's loaded with sugar, it can be really healthy.


Whatever your reasons for loving salsa, whatever brand you buy, recipe you make, whatever you pair it with, or don't pair it with, you probably have some love for salsa and some fond memories that involve the delicious concoction. ..I certainly do. And that is why I would like to tell you, very briefly, of my most recent salsa experience.


A couple days ago, my wonderful friend of many years, Meghan, invited me over to her apartment for chips and salsa after class. I was excited because, well, I really love salsa, and Meghan is getting pretty damn good at making it. SO after class, I went over to her place and she pulled a container of salsa out of the fridge that she had made the day before. It was fantastic. Then after sampling that, I helped her chop up some veggies while she made another, different, batch. This second batch was also incredibly yummy.


As I sat there, munching away, I really got to thinking about salsa. Meghan has a completely different way of making salsa than I do. Our salsas, although both flavorful and classically salsa, taste and look very different. She uses fresh tomatoes; I use canned. She uses yellow pepper; I use red. She adds avocado; I add cilantro and black beans.


This experience, along with many of my other salsa moments, made me realize how many variations there must be on the dish (a whole lot). And I thought, wow, wouldn't it be cool to travel around sampling salsas far and wide? For me, and I'm sure many of you, this dream is unfortunately not going to happen in the near future. So please, if you have a favorite salsa recipe, favorite brand, pairing of salsa and something else, favorite place to eat it, a good salsa story, a salsa philosophy, special ingredient, or anything else, please comment (or at least send me the recipe so I can try it). By sharing we can all have a salsa journey right here at home.


Here is my salsa recipe:

Salsa
1 can tomatoes (drain off juice into a separate container and then chop up tomatoes - if you were to use all the juice in the can, you're salsa would be too liquidy)

½ onion chopped

1 or 2 cloves garlic

½ red pepper chopped

4-5 jalapenos chopped

several dashes of hot sauce (I personally like a bunch of dashes)

1 lime juiced

1/3 - ½ can black beans

¼ cup frozen corn

¼ tsp of the following: chili powder and ground cumin

salt and pepper to taste

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Tabouli

Ever since I was a little kid, tabouli has always been one of my all time favorite foods. It's probably one of the biggest reasons for my eternal love of veggies and for the basis of my philosophy that everything is better with parsley. 

Quick, delicious and nutritious, it can be eaten as a snack, a side dish for a meal, a topping in a yummy wrap or anything else your heart desires. I hope you like it!

Tabouli
1 bunch parsley
1 bunch mint
half bunch scallions (about 4)
1/2 cup cracked wheat
1 lemon squeezed (about 2 tablespoons juice)
2-4 Tbs olive oil (depending on mood; if I'm indulging I use 4)
1 clove garlic crushed
1 tomato (if you do not have a fresh tomato, you can substitute this with 2-3 canned whole peeled  plum tomatoes)
salt to taste

Boil about 1 cup water and pour on cracked wheat. Let sit while you chop up the parsley, mint, and scallions. Then drain the water off the cracked wheat. I like to squeeze it, to get excess water out. Then mix everything together and you're done!

My lunch (aka more kale)

I have come to the realization that some of my favorite meals are the ones that I have cooked when I had food sitting in the fridge in need of being used up.

I am going home for spring break today, so I needed to use up the perishable food I had laying around for lunch. The result was delicious.

Just throwing food in a pot, I of course did not really think about what I was making until it was done. So, unfortunately, I do not yet have a recipe, but I liked my lunch so much that I felt the desire to at least mention it here.

To start, I cooked up some rice, lentils, and split peas, which I had seasoned with a bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, basil, oregano, salt, pepper, and sauteed onions & garlic. I topped that with a sauteed kale, mushroom, onion, chickpea dish cooked in a small amount of broth made from veggie broth, a splash of vermouth, mint, lemon, garlic, salt, pepper, rosemary, basil, and oregano.  (This broth actually tastes like a beef broth - or at least I think it does.)

Coming soon

Hi all,


Sadly, I am backed up on writing posts because it's mid semester, and I have to write about five papers a week. Fortunately for me, my spring break is in a week and a half, so, if I do not get too much homework over the break, I will soon be adding a flood of new recipes. These are a few of the recipes I hope to post within the next couple weeks:



- Tabouli
- Salsa
- Vegan Mac & Cheese
- Pumpkin Muffins
- Kale topping for spaghetti - I have not come up with a name for it, but last night, I made a pesto like dish, but instead of basil i used kale, and in place of cheese I used nutritional yeast (my newest love)
- also, my mom recently gave me a new lentil soup, which i hope to try soon. If I like it, I will post the recipe.


Happy cooking!
Diana

Something Sweet

If you have a sweet tooth, try this delicious apple muffin recipe:  http://happyherbivore.com/recipe/apple-crisp-muffins/