Kickin Salsa!

We are back from a great weekend in Kalamazoo, Michigan at a wedding for a friend from high school. It was such a great time but boy am I tired!!I hope all of you guys had a great weekend.
Since it is Sunday and that means football I thought I would share my Kickin Salsa recipe with you.

Alright, I have a confession. When I started my garden this year I made a bad choice and planted a few too many jalapeño and habanera plants.  I should have known from last year that three plants of each was too many BUT I did it anyways. I am sweating just thinking about all of that spice!

Now I am bringing handfuls of both into my house by the day. I have a huge bag in my freezer just waiting to be thrown into a pot of chili.  My tomatoes did not do as good as they usually do but the jalapeños and habaneras on the other hand were (and still are) out of control.  Aside from using them for chili I love to make salsa, especially this Kickin Salsa!  Since I like my salsa with a little kick it works perfectly! It’s easy to do (I love my food processor) and something you can eat for a snack or with a meal, like tacos.

Kickin Salsa!

Adapted from my Mom’s recipe

Ingredients

1 medium sweet whit onion, quartered

1 clove garlic, cut in half

1 large green pepper (can use red, orange or yellow depending on preference)

2 jalapeños

1-16oz can of diced tomatoes (about 2 cups of fresh, diced tomatoes)

1-6oz can tomato paste

2 teaspoons cumin

½ teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons basil

2 teaspoons oregano

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon sugar

Directions

1. Remove seeds from green pepper and cut in quarters.  Quarter onion and halve the garlic.  Place these three ingredients in food processor. Pulse a couple of times (about 10 seconds).  Scrape bowl.
2. Cut jalapeño and remove seeds (for less heat).  Place jalapeño and all remaining ingredients in food processor and pulse until desired consistency (about 20 seconds).  Taste and add more spices as needed.
3. Transfer salsa to a serving bowl and serve with chips or put it on your tacos.

Tips:

1. Be careful how much you process this salsa. If you like it chunky then you will want to pulse the salsa less.
2. Salsa is often all about the tomatoes so if you have bland tomatoes there will be less flavor.  I also like to roast my tomatoes sometimes and make salsa- but that’s probably a whole different post.
3. My Mom taught me to use a grapefruit spoon to remove the seeds from the jalapeños so you don’t get the spicey seeds all over your hands. Trust me I have made this mistake and touched by eye later in the day and it did not feel good!

I think salsa is really all about your preference.  Some people like it thick and chunky while others like it thin. Some like it super spicy (try adding a habanera) and others like it mild.  Whatever your preference you can use this recipe and modify it. Dig in! I promise you will like it.

3 More Great Salsa Recipes:

Fruit salsa with baked cinnamon chips

Wicked Good Salsa

Strawberry Mango Salsa