Perks

Monday is here again.

This time next week I'll be sitting in a classroom going over hospital policies and the ever-present topics discussed at EVERY general orientation. Things like fire safety, safe lifting practices, incident reporting systems, Code Pink reviews and hours of really fascinating stuff. (sarcasm!)

Maybe if I dont think about next monday, it wont happen...

We were so lucky to get a visit in with our sweet friends Chris, Carey and gestating baby girl Bonser! They just happened to be in the Corpus area celebrating their anniversary and were kind enough to let us in on a dinner. They are such an encouragement to be around and we had such a good time catching up over pasta. I think I did most of the talking... go figure. :)

Look at the beauties I found in the Rhoads' garden! Arent they pretty? Hubs just loves snacking on cherry tomatoes, but I'm not such a tomat fan. So what do you do with a tomat infestation as pretty as this???

You make Salsa!

So we broke out our blender, which I dont think has been used in 3 years (I know, because there was 3 years worth of dust on the box the blender was in!) and whipped up some fresh salsa. And in true PW fashion, I've posted a pictorial walk through. But seriously, it's so easy! You can make this in minutes to be as hot/limey/salty/tomatoey/cilantro-ish as your tastes can handle. You'll be so spoiled by fresh homemade salsa, the restaurant stuff will never satisfy.

First, you need a blender or food processor. Ours is in the dishwasher getting tomato bits off, so there's not a pic of that, but really... we all know what they look like.

Then, the ingredients!

Ok, dont judge. I know I just finished praising these beautiful little tomats. They can go in too, dont worry. Rotel with chiles is just a yummy yum-yum base. I used mild this time, but you can kick in some heat with a medium or even hot variety. This is all about personalization, I tell ya! Easy step: open the can, drain some of the liquid out and drop it in the mixer. I also threw in about 6ish fresh tomats- just rinsed them well and threw them straight in the pot!

Gaaaaaahlic. I only put in 1 big spoonful (so technical, I know.) but again... put in as much as your tastebuds can handle! Fresh gaaaaaahlic is also good here too, but the potted stuff works well too (plus you dont get gaaaaahlic fingers from the potted stuff.)

Onion (stinky stinky). We'll leave it in the bag. I only used half of a small onion because i'm not a super duper onion fan. Hubs would love 2 or 3 onions, but I dont think so. I give this a quick chop up prior to dumping. Pew pew pew stinky. Here's a surprise though, chopping onions does not make me cry. Maybe there's a correlation between this and the fact that I rarely cry anyway.

Limey Limey Lime. Yum. I love lime and coulda shoulda woulda put a whole lime in the salsa, but I only used half a lime. Squeeze the heck out of it into the mixer and toss the leftovers in your garbage disposal for a nice limey odor.

Cilantro. I dont know if I was EVER exposed to cilantro prior to our Texas arrival, but it's everywhere here!!!! I find that people either L-O-V-E cilantro or hate it and I just happen to be somewhere in the middle. I dont like to be overwhelmed with it, so I only added a few handfuls. Just pull the leaves off of the big stems and dump them in.

Hello, Mr. Jalapeno. Be careful with this guy. Use gloves if you wear contact lenses... I wouldnt know anything about touching my eye after de-seeding a jalapeno (it's like a fiery hot poker searing through your brain. Not a good feeling.) I used a whole guy but I got rid of most of the seeds & ribs, which is where alllllllll the heat is. For a little more kick, de-seed only half. Or if you're really into some heat, throw it all in the pot! I also gave this guy a little chop action prior to dumping.

After this, add some salt & pepper (not pictured... just use your imagination.) to taste and blend away! I like soupy salsa, but with a little less blending, you can get chunky too. I love the day 2 refrigerated variety- after the flavors blend and mellow out a little. In fact, I think I'll have some for lunch today. Yum yum yumtastic! This recipe makes about a cup & a halfish. I adapted this recipe from Mendy's, which makes double the amount of salsa! Go be crazy and make your own salsa! Other options to add or change: serrano peppers instead of jalapeno, chipotles for a smoky salsa, garlic/onion powder for a little extra of those flavors, and even tomatillos for green-y salsa!

So where's the finished product you say???

In my tummy :)

PS: after weeks of non-running, I have finally gotten the resolve to hit the pavement again! Hallelujah! My pants were getting tooooooooo tight. More on this later.