Recipe: Fresh salsa

Fresh salsa:

                After being sorely disappointed in store bought salsa, I have come up with my own recipe, and so here I share it with you! One rule for salsa, all fresh tomatoes or all canned, no mixing –it creates a weird texture that isn't always good.

                Ingredients:

                3 cans diced tomatoes

                1 large onion (I usually do red, but whatever you have works)

                6 cloves garlic

                1 large cucumber, 1 ½ if you want a really fresh salsa

                2-3 large red or orange bell peppers

                4 jalapenos (no seeds) –more or less depending on your preference

                1 tsp Tabasco

                3 tbs of sugar –to cut the bitter of the jalapenos and tomatoes. If you really don’t want to add sugar then oregano can sometimes cut the bitter as well.

2 tbs lime juice (or lemon if you’re out of lime)

                Dash of chili powder

                Salt and pepper to taste (lots!)

Prep:

Pour tomatoes (keep the juice) in a large mixing bowl, chop up all vegetables to desired size (mince garlic) mix in bowl with tomatoes and add spices –lime, tabasco, sugar, salt, pepper, chili powder. If you want more juice or smaller pieces, I usually take half of the amount of salsa and blend it into much smaller pieces in the blender and mix it back in. Tweak recipe to your own taste buds, freezes moderately well and lasts for a week in the fridge –enjoy!