SALSA!!!

This salsa recipe is absolutely perfect for the winter blues, and anytime you have a craving for tomatoes and all things summer and garden-fresh.

I make it as often as I can, and love it more than my luggage.
And I'm pretty sure that once you try it, you will want to join the I LOVE SALSA club as well.
We could make tee-shirts!
Anyway....
This salsa is

• Simple and quick, meaning within an hour you should be nestled happily in front of your favorite Netflix series with a bowl of chips & salsa.
• Does not require fresh tomatoes, making it a year round treat.
• And, can be varied in levels of thick/thin, hot/mild. 

So, what say ye?  Shall we get started?

First things first, gather the following ingredients:

2 (10 oz cans) Rotel tomatoes & green chilies
3 (28 oz cans) Diced tomatoes
1 (28 oz can) Crushed tomatoes
1 Tablespoon chopped jalepenos (jar is fine)
3 bunches Cilantro
1 bunch green onion
2 fresh tomatoes (large)
4 teaspoon salt
2-3 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
Juice of 3 limes


Then begin chopping everything that must be chopped.

Cilantro
Green onion
Tomatoes (2 large)
Slice the limes in half

Set all of your chopped ingredients, with the exception of the limes, in a large bowl.

Next, you want to open up all of the canned ingredients; and decide whether to drain, or not to drain.
It should be noted that the thickness of the salsa will depend on how much liquid you keep vs how much liquid you drain.
Whereas, the chunkiness of the salsa will be determined later in the recipe.
Ok, let me help you out.
If you prefer a very thick salsa, drain the Rotel & the three cans of diced tomatoes.
If you prefer a thinner salsa, do not drain the Rotel or the three cans of diced tomatoes.
If you are somewhere in the middle, drain half.
I can't help you much more than that.
It really is up to you and your personal salsa taste.  If you ask me which I prefer, my answer has to be "yes."  Just yes.
And for this particular time, I drained all but one can.  The salsa was very thick and didn't go quite as far; but you will see....

Now that you have diced what needs to be diced, opened all the cans, and decided whether to drain or not to drain....

Pour all of your Rotel & diced tomatoes (saving the Crushed tomatoes for later) into the bowl with the chopped ingredients.

Mix together and begin spooning the mixture into the food processor.
It will probably take 3 - 4 groupings before you have processed everything.
I also threw the jalapenos in at this point. (Feel free to add more if you like a little extra kick!)

(before food processor had its way)

For each group, pulse your food processor a few times until you have the texture you like.  I generally pulse 5 - 6 times and I pulse some groupings more than others so that my salsa ingredients have a variety of size and texture.
It should be noted that this is the point where you decide the level of chunkiness that your salsa will have.  The more pulsing, the less chunky.  The fewer pulses, the more chunky.
I went with chunky-chunk-chunk this time around.

(post processor)

As you work through each group, move the ingredients from the food processor to a large bowl.
Once all of your pulsed ingredients have been added to the bowl it will look something like this.

Keep in mind that this time I made mine on the very thick/chunky side, and drained all but one of the cans.  So, if yours looks different, it could be because you opted to drain less liquid than I did.

At this point, add the crushed tomatoes, seasonings (chili powder & cumin), and lime juice straight into the bowl and stir.

You can start adding the salt, pepper, & sugar now, but it is better to do it in batches.
You may like less salt than I do, or more or less pepper.
The sugar helps balance out the acidity of the tomatoes and adds a layer of flavor that is very important, so don't be tempted to leave it out; but feel free to add gradually, balancing it with the salt & pepper.
I generally go through about 10 spoons at this point in the recipe.
Taste.
Adjust.
Taste.
Adjust.
Taste.
Adjust.
And so forth and so on....

Once you are finished, call in a hungry kid and ask them to do you a favor and taste test the world's greatest salsa for you.
They will be happy to oblige and you will win brownie points for being cool enough to make your own salsa.

That should do it!
Get Netflix fired up, grab a bag of chips, and be happy.

Until we cook again!
CDawnCooks

Click HERE for printable.