Scary, scary, Salsa

I've always been a picky eater. Sauces and toppings, not for me! Funny thing though, if I have a couple of cocktails, I become more adventurous. This would be how I came to try mushrooms and green peppers on pizza many years ago. Or black olives and sour cream on nachos a couple of years ago. I'm the farthest thing from a foodie in the world. Except that I love food. Just my kind of food, simple food.

So one night, I was at a restaurant, after a work event and this is how I came to try..... salsa.
I don't like tomatoes. I like ketchup. I like pizza sauce. I like tomato sauce. I like sundried tomatoes. But I don't like tomatoes. I grow them. But I don't eat them, plain, raw, whole etc. Food psychologist referrals can be left in the comments.

While enjoying my margarita, some chips and salsa were delivered to the table. This was not your regular salsa. It wasn't chunky with peppers and onions floating in it. It wasn't overly thick and red like a sauce. It was fresh and light and smooth. So I dipped. Just slightly. Hmmm, this wasn't bad. A slight citrus tang. A kick of spice from cumin. A lingering heat blended in stealthily. Is that a word? As we drank, the chips diminished. The salsa diminished. The chips were refilled. The salsa was refilled. Freshly made chips, lightly sprinkled with salt. My new heaven.

I started making this at home and would bring it in to work and set it in a bowl on the big center island filing cabinet. 6 or 7 of us would stand around munching. The slight heat of the jalepeno wasn't enough to make you stop but rather it just made you want more.

Since then I have tried other salsas. Too thick, too thin, too tomatoey, too chunky. I'm just not happy with
anything else. We tried making salsa from fresh tomatoes and it turned out more pink than red, more like applesauce than salsa. Canned is the way to go for this. And I'll always have the ingredients on hand.

Salsa

• 1-2 jalapenos- depending on how spicy you like it, roughly chopped and seeds removed
• 1/2 medium red onion, roughly chopped
• 14 1/2 ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• pinch of sugar

  

Combine jalepenos and onions in blender or food chopper and pulse or lightly process until chopped.

Add remaining ingredients and process until tomatoes are at your preferred consistency.
For best flavour, chill covered in fridge for a few hours before serving.

*Optional* After spooning into serving bowl, add about 1 tbsp diced red onion and a little lime zest to the top as a garnish

In the Ninja chopper

 Serve with Guacamole

If you're scared of any other food, check out Scared Silly over at The Whole Gang. Diane is hosting this month's Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free originally brought to you by Naomi Devlin. Enjoy!!!!!

xo

Kathleen

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Pesto EXTRAVAGANZA!

The smells of fresh herbs in the garden... Anyone can grow herbs and they are almost always going to grow just fine. My garden is bursting with oregano, thyme and rosemary. The vegetables didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped this year. Too much heat at the wrong time I think.

The brussel sprouts just didn't sprout, the beans looked deformed, the onion sets never took and the peas just tangled with the onions. My roma tomatoes did just fine and my pepper plants flourished. I must go pick some of the jalepenos though. I have some peppers drying inside for an upcoming chipotle dish.

I picked some of the basil early to make some pesto and we didn't have as much as I would have liked near the end of the summer. Off to the market and we came home with a nice large bouquet of basil.

I could definitely make more with this batch.

Years ago, at a restaurant I worked at, they made a pesto dipping oil for the bread for guests. I never enjoyed it then. I don't know what was wrong with me. A couple years ago, I bought a pesto dip/sauce/just pesto in a fancy jar at a festival and then I brought it to a party along with a baguette and some extra oil to make it a bit more of a dipping oil. It was incredibly addictive mainly because of all the garlic in it I think.

There are so many pesto recipes out there. I don't enjoy pine nuts and there are plenty of alternatives out there such as walnuts or almonds but I choose to leave it out altogether.

Easy Pesto

• 4 cups loosely packed basil, washed and dry
• 3-5 cloves of garlic or more - Hey, why not? I have no one to kiss.
• 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
• Salt and Freshly ground pepper to taste

I throw all the ingredients into the Ninja ( food processor) and give it a few pulses.

Voila!!

I added lots of oil to it afterwards to swirl it up.

I had some Italian flatbread from GF Patisserie, and warmed it for a nice bread to dip.

We'd recently bought some fresh mozzarella to make Insalata Caprese... fresh tomatoes, basil, fresh mozzarella, olive oil and salt and pepper, maybe a drizzle of balsamic vinegar if you're feeling crazy.

We had just come from the market and I was planning on having some bread with pesto and since we had fresh cherry tomatoes, I decided to change up the Caprese a little.

Little ripe cherry tomatoes...

Fresh pesto...

And small chunks of fresh mozzarella...

The basil thoroughly mixes with the tomatoes and cheese for much grander flavour.

Another day, I wanted to make something along the lines of My Sundried Tomato and Basil Cheese Dip.

I was making some of the Easy Pesto and placed about 7 pieces of sundried tomatoes in a cup of boiling water for about 10 minutes until they plumped back up. Then I added them to the Ninja processor and pulsed it all on up.

I poured a little olive oil on some baguette from Aidan's Gluten Free and broiled it for a couple minutes and then added some of the Sundried Tomato Basil Pesto. Delicieux!

And to round out the Pesto EXTRAVAGANZA!, a delightful little number I like to call Sundried Tomato Basil Stuffed Chicken. A little chicken, a little cheese, a little STB pesto, grilled on up...

Fresh new potatoes, green and yellow beans with dill and parmesan

I think I won't have enough frozen pesto to last out the year. Might need to start growing some indoors I think!

This post is linked to Simply Gluten Free's Gluten Free Photo Contest.

Guacamole

Avocados.

I was never really into avocados. Picky eater.  Going gluten-free, I found that I'll eat a lot more things that I never would have even looked at before. Because it's food. That I can eat.

Before this though, I had tried guacamole at ... surprise, surprise... an Irish pub. It actually had flavour. It was almost as if it had some taco seasoning in it. Perfect for nachos.
Since then I've been making guacamole with cumin and cayenne in it for that extra spice.

I take tortilla chips and guac to work sometimes as it's an easy snack. We have it all the time on hot sunny afternoons as an appetizer. Margaritas, salsa, fajitas, chips and guac and I'm a happy girl.


Spicy Mexican Guacamole

3 ripe avocados
1 lime, cut in half
1/2 cup red onion, diced
1-2 cloves minced garlic
1 pinch ground cayenne pepper - to taste
1/4 - 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 plum tomato, diced(optional)

Halve the avocados and remove the pit. Scoop into a medium bowl and mash. Add the juice of 1/2 the lime.
Mix into avocado.
Add red onion and garlic, cayenne, cumin, salt  and mix well. Gently toss in the tomato if you are using it.  Squeeze the remaining 1/2 of lime over the guacamole and cover tightly. Refrigerate mixture for about 1-2 hours so the flavours blend together.
Enjoy with tortilla chips!!!

It's certainly easier to make guacamole by hand  but I just bought a Ninja and it works fabulous for guac.

This post is linked to Simply Gluten Free's Gluten Free Photo Contest.