David's Famous Salsa!

Growing up in Tucson Arizona,

my best friend's dad made some amazing salsa.

I always wondered how he made it,

but he always said there wasn't really a recipe.

Over the years, I wasn't the only one that asked about it,

so somehow a fairly good recipe was put together

and lucky me, I was able to get my hands on it

and tried to recreate the deliciousness myself!

I was home visiting earlier this year and saw my friend's family.

I hadn't seen her dad in probably 15 years and it was great to catch up.

I asked him permission to share his recipe on my blog,

and since you're reading this, he of course said yes!

So without saying anything more,

let me show you how this yummy salsa is made!

The Goods:

Tomato Sauce

Whole Peeled Tomatoes

Salt

Oregano Leaves

Garlic

Garlic Powder

Green Onions

Cilantro

Dried Chili Tepins

Limes

Red Wine Vinegar

First thing you want to do is get all your ingredients prepped.

Chop up an entire bunch of green onions and set aside.

Mince one to two garlic cloves so you have a full teaspoon.

Chop up one entire bunch of cilantro and set aside.

Slice your limes in half.

In a blender, add ingredients in the following order:

Half the can of whole tomatoes (and juice), 

three quarters of the chopped green onions, 

all of the chopped cilantro, 

juice from the limes, 

red wine vinegar, 

salt, 

a sprinkle of garlic powder, 

minced garlic, 

crushed chili tepins, 

oregano leaves, 

the rest of the whole tomatoes, 

the rest of the green onions 

and last but not least the tomato sauce!!!

Blend well for about a minute. 

And that's it for a batch of David's salsa!

As you can see in the photo above,

this recipe makes quite a bit of salsa!

Knowing that, I've been known to make a batch for myself

and then give a lot of it away to coworkers and friends.

Sometimes I take a little more time and package it up in cute mini mason jars!

David's Famous Salsa

1 (15 oz) Can Tomato Sauce

1 (28 oz) Can Whole Peeled Tomatoes

2 Teaspoons Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Oregano Leaves

1 Teaspoon Garlic, Minced

Sprinkle of Garlic Powder

1 Bunch Green Onions, Chopped

1 Bunch Cilantro, Chopped

1 FULL Teaspoon Dried Chili Tepins, Crushed

3 to 4 Limes

1 Tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar

1. In a blender, add ingredients in the following order:
• Half the can of whole tomatoes (and juice)
• Three quarters of the chopped green onions
• All of the chopped cilantro
• Juice from the limes
• Red wine vinegar
• Salt
• Sprinkle of garlic powder
• Minced garlic
• Crushed chili tepins
• Oregano leaves
• The rest of the can of whole tomatoes
• The rest of the green onions
• Last but not least the tomato sauce
2. Blend well for about a minute. 
3. Store in airtight jar for about a week or two.  

Chicken Soft Tacos

If you haven't figured it out yet - I LOVE to cook. 

I love it even more when I can cook for a group of people like my amazing family or my close friends.

 I love searching cookbooks and online for recipes (heck - I do this for fun all the time!), I love going to the market (sometimes more than one!) to buy all the ingredients, I love the whole cooking process (yes, even all the prep work too!) and I love seeing the happiness and full bellies once the meal is all over.

 Without boring you even more about how much I love to cook, let me tell you about an amazing and SUPER EASY meal I made for myself and two of my girlfriends a few weeks ago!

I was randomly browsing recipes online one night (surprise surprise, right?) and I round a recipe for chicken tacos. I've made chicken tacos countless times, but this recipe sounded so simple and looked amazing! I called for a crock pot, a few ingredients and not much else.

I used this recipe as a starting point, but made a few modifications. I didn't use green chiles because I didn't have any. Instead of using a jar of salsa, I made my own, which is so easy too! Lastly, I used chicken thighs AND chicken tenders because...I wanted to and I did! The only thing I'd do different next time would be to use "fajita" sized instead of "soft taco" sized tortillas. Sounds odd, I know, but the "soft taco" ones are quite large.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde

I recently ran across a recipe for a Salsa Verde that sounded amazing and looked super easy to make! I saved the recipe and said to myself I'd make it soon. 

Less than a month later, I was roasting tomatillos, jalapenos and garlic to make this delicious salsa!  As I suspected, it WAS super easy to make and required very little effort! 

Take a look below and give it a try yourself! I don't think you'll be disappointed.

The Goods:

Tomatillos

Jalapenos

Garlic

Lime Juice

Salt

Apple Cider Vinegar

And not pictured...

Cilantro!

(OOPS!)

Before, After,

And all ready for Blending!

All done!

Now time to dig in!

Go make it yourself.

Seriously!!!

Superbowl Food!

For Superbowl this year, I hung out with two of my best friends - my friend Elina and her husband, Adam. Elina and I decided to make some yummy food for all three of us to enjoy! While we're pretty good in the kitchen alone, when you put us together - look out!!! 

To start, we made some homemade salsa and guacamole and enjoyed both with some tortilla chips we flavored with fresh squeezed lime! 

After that, Elina got to work prepping the potatoes and I started getting the toppings together. I couldn't wait for a homemade potato skin. YUM!!

Next, we start working on what we were all looking forward to: the homemade chicken wings!! We weren't sure if we'd be able to find party wings, but Ralphs came through and had quite a few packs to choose from! I'll post about the chicken wing process in the near future, but until then - look at how great they turned out!! They are BY FAR, the best wings I've ever had! Check back soon for the post all about them.

Hope you all had a great Superbowl and got to eat some yummy food. 

Turkey Taco Whole Wheat Pizza

While browsing recipes online recently, I ran across a website with a lot of cool recipes and one of them really stuck out - Taco Pizza! Really!?! I love tacos and I love pizza but I'd never thought about combining the two. And from the pictures, it looked like it may resemble an Indian Fry Bread. MMMMM Fry Bread! (Note to self: Find Indian Fry Bread Recipe and attempt to make it SOON!)

So after oogling over the recipe and pictures, I decided I'd make this for dinner one night last week. I made it for a friend and at first, they were a skeptic, but after smelling it bake and trying the first bite - they were convined it wasn't half bad. Heck - I thought it was quite tasty and enjoyed it on more than one occasion that week - partly because it makes a large quantity and it's quite filling.

Now that I've told you all about this amazing creation, let me show you just how to make it! 

It's very simple - I promise!

The Goods:

Ground Turkey (Not Pictured because I'm an idiot...)

Taco Seasoning

Refried Beans

Shredded Cheese

Pizza Dough (I used Whole Wheat)

Lettuce, Tomato, Green Onions, Cilantro, Lime, Salsa

Spread out dough and cover evenly with beans.

Add cooked, seasoned ground turkey.

And then a bunch of shredded cheese!

Bake according to dough package directions.

Halfway through baking!

Andddddddd done!

With all the toppings!

All topped and ready for consumption!

(Confession - I almost forgot to take a picture and took a bite first!)