New SPICY Salsa Recipe (For Canning)

Hello! Last year I published a blog about our first salsa canning experience. If you want to check it out, here it is. This year, we have been inundated with tomatoes. We've pretty much spent five days a week for the last two weeks either juicing, canning, or freezing tomatoes. Today, we started with four grocery bags of tomatoes, thinking that by making a ton of salsa (and giving away a couple dozen tomatoes to friends and family members) we would make a dent in the number of bags of tomatoes sitting on our kitchen table. NOPE. Still four bags. A couple of the bags are just "good sized" bags now as opposed to the "bursting" bags they were last night.

FOUR BAGS. FOUR. This is after the salsa and the
giving away of literally dozens of them.

So we will probably be making a second (giant) batch of this spicy salsa in the coming days to avoid wasting these delicious, home grown tomatoes. But for now, my husband and I are going to finish putting these mason jars away and nourish our aching, tomato and jalapeno-burned hands.

And for you? Here is the recipe! Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 16-20 C chopped fresh tomatoes (We used 20 because we ladled a lot of the juice off of the top so it was more chunky.)
• 1 C diced jalapenos (We used a heaping cup, along with some cayenne pepper... We like heat...)
• 1 C green bell peppers
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 12-15 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 1 1/2 C apple cider vinegar
• Juice from 3 limes (approx. 1/2 C lime juice)
• 2 T salt
• 2 T garlic powder
• 1 1/2 T black pepper
• 4 heaping T brown sugar

Directions

1. Chop everything that needs to be chopped.
2. Combine all ingredients into large stock pot.
3. Bring to simmer for one hour, 15 minutes, or until all ingredients are soft, stirring often. Make sure to skim the foam off the top every 15 minutes or so.
4. Meanwhile, make sure all canning jars, lids, rings, and utensils are sterilized.
5. Depending on what consistency you want your salsa to be, you can ladle off some of the tomato juice until you get it to your desired chunkiness. I would also suggest scooping out some and doing a taste test (once it's cooled a bit!) at this point and if you want it to be hotter, this is the time to add more cayenne pepper or even hot sauce.
6. Ladle salsa into jars, making sure to clean edges before putting lids and rings on.
7. Process in water bath for 15 minutes.
8. Remove from water bath with jar lifter and let sit and cool. Once jars are cool, lids should be sealed properly, indicated by the lids not popping up. If one doesn't seal completely, put it in the fridge and eat it over the next week!

Boilin'!

 

Spicy Black Bean Hummus with Cilantro

We're getting ready to go camping this weekend and I'm trying to keep some semi-clean food around, among the hot dogs and bread and chips and sugary margaritas... I've chopped up an entire watermelon (which, I swear, is one of my least favorite kitchen activities), I've boiled some eggs, I've bagged up some salad fixin's. AND I made some stellar spicy black bean hummus with cilantro.

Yeah, this will be the third time I've posted a hummus recipe. I don't care. It's a healthy dip. Those two words don't often go together, so when they do, I mean... Seriously. You have yourself a win/win.



Ingredients

• 1 can black beans, drained and well-rinsed
• 1 1/2 T tahini
• 1/2 bunch cilantro, rinsed and chopped
• 2 T olive oil
• 1/2 t cayenne pepper
• 1 lemon, juiced
• salt to taste

Directions

1. Combine black beans, lemon juice, and olive oil in food processor or blender and blend until smooth.
2. Add tahini, cilantro, cayenne pepper, and salt and blend until all ingredients are mixed.
3. Serve with sliced veggies or some kind of delicious, unhealthy carby situation such as pita chips or crackers. Or any ol' chip would do.

I choose chips.

Have a happy Independence Day, my friends!

Guacamole is SO TASTY! (Recipe!)

My favorite thing to bring to parties is guacamole. Everyone loves guacamole. And if by some fluke chance people don't eat all of it (which very rarely happens), you have an incredibly healthy snack to take home with you.

I know, I know. A medium sized avocado is nearly 300 calories. One avocado has a huge chunk of your daily recommended fat intake. I've found myself arguing in defense of avocados many times in the past. Here's the facts. Avocados are good for your heart. Avocados are good for your skin. Avocados have proven time and time again to lower cholesterol levels. Avocados contain lutein, which is super-good for your eyes. Oh. And they taste INCREDIBLE.

Guacamole is so rich in good-for-you foods. Onions also help lower cholesterol levels. My mom always talks about how "onions and garlic are blood cleaners" which is basically what they do, but if you want more specifics, click here. The guacamole I make has cilantro in it, which I've been told by numerous friends and acquaintances tastes like soap. I've even been warned by servers in restaurants about ordering cilantro-heavy dishes. Apparently the cilantro=soap taste thing is genetic. BUT, if you're like me and you love the cool, clean (not soapy!) taste of cilantro, know that it (along with parsley) is like a magnet to heavy metals like mercury in your blood. So does it clean your blood too? I guess you could say that.

I could ramble on and on about how you should make room for more guacamole in your life simply based on the healthiness of its ingredients, but I'm done boring you with those details. Onto the recipe!

Ingredients

• 3 ripe avocados
• 1/2 red onion
• 1/2 bunch cilantro (omit if it tastes like soap to you)
• 2 Roma tomatoes
• 1-2 wedges of lime
• 1/2 t garlic powder (more or less to taste)
• salt to taste

I was making guacamole for a crowd yesterday
so that's why the ingredient numbers don't match
up to this picture at all.

Directions

1. Mash the avocado with a potato masher or any other kitchen utensil, really. Don't mash it too much initially though, unless you want a really smooth consistency. I really like chunky guacamole, personally.
   
2. Chop all the other veggies and add to the avocados. Mix them together, keeping in mind the chunkiness level that you're wanting to achieve. Add salt and garlic powder and softly combine.
3. Squeeze lime slices over the top and stir softly into the guacamole. I'm not sure about this, but I've always put lime in my guacamole for two reasons. One-taste of course. And two-apparently it keeps it from turning brown as quickly.
4. Find something to dip with and EAT.
5. Watch your skin start glowing from all of the good-for-your-health foods you just put into your body!

And here's the finished product. Not my best
photography work, but hey.

And just for fun, here's a picture of me and my little avocado-lover at the potluck
yesterday. I have to show him off.





(Other sources: UndergroundHealth.com, Southern Living, NY Times, SFGate)



Roasted Red Pepper Hummus Recipe

The other day I went into our local health food store and they had a free sample of this delicious hummus. I didn't buy any because I believe that store-bought hummus (while delicious) is wayyyy overpriced. I looked at the ingredients and it sounded pretty simple. So I made it last night and it was amazing. Here's the recipe!

Ingredients

• 1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
• 4 cloves pressed or diced garlic (more or less depending on your taste)
• 1/4 cup roasted red peppers
• juice from one lemon
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon tahini
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Put all ingredients into food processor or blender and blend until smooth.
2. Transfer to serving bowl and garnish with a few chopped roasted red peppers.

Pretty easy, huh? Pair a serving of it (1/8 of the entire recipe) with 2 stalks of celery and you have a VERY filling and energizing 100 calorie snack!

(To give credit where it's due, I always get my calorie content counts from caloriecount.about.com.)

Two Little Hummus Recipes

So I've been working really hard on paring down our grocery budget. I've mentioned before that we're down to $350 a month. One of the ways we can do this (on top of bargain shopping, coupons, Aldi's, and mapping out our trips to the grocery stores) is by learning how to make your own healthy things. Instead of buying outrageously-priced, premade hummus, make it. It's so easy.

My Mommy, Camille's go-to recipe (this one does not include the usual tahini sauce but it's my favorite because I grew up on it.)

1. 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2. 4 cloves garlic (give or take. We LOVE garlic in our family, so we usually put tons in)
3. 2-4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (love this, too, so we put extra in also)
4. Freshly ground black pepper to taste
5. 1/4 Cup water

Then we just grind it all up in the food processor til it's creamy.

My Mother-in-law, Vicki's recipe (including tahini sauce and so much better than any store-bought hummus)

1. 1 can chickpeas
2. 1 can kidney beans
3. 1/4 to 1/3 Cup tahini
4. 1 large clove of garlic, chopped finely
5. 1/4 Cup extra virgin olive oil
6. salt, pepper, and paprika to taste

Grind up beans in food processor til smooth. Then blend all ingredients in food processor until well-mixed.

Both my mom and Vicki have used other things in their hummus. Black beans, spinach, beets, etc. There are a TON of recipes online and believe me, it's about 1/3 or less of the cost of just buying those tiny flat tubs at the store.

One more thing. This is not about hummus, but is about Greek yogurt (which I'm learning many people fear for some reason.)

From my experience, people are afraid of using Greek yogurt (I was, too) as a substitute for things like mayo and sour cream. Here's the Chelsea version of the rundown on Greek yogurt vs. whipped (generic) salad dressing (I just grabbed what I currently have in my fridge and did the math.) 1 cup of Fage Total 0% Greek yogurt is 130 calories. One cup of generic whipped salad dressing is 800 FREAKING CALORIES. YIKES. First ingredient on Greek yogurt? Grade A Pasteurized Skimmed Milk. First ingredient on generic salad dressing? Soybean oil. Followed by water, followed by the lovely high fructose corn syrup.

Here's a couple of things you can do with Greek yogurt to save yourself some calories. Use it in place of sour cream on tacos or as a chip dip. No one will ever know the difference. Put some honey and cinnamon in it for *commercial voice* part of a balanced breakfast. Instead of using mayo or salad dressing in a chicken or egg salad, substitute it with Greek yogurt. It's actually better because it's fluffy.

If any of my friends (or people who don't me for that matter) read this and want to put their hummus recipes in the comment section, that would be awesome.