Salsa I, Jalapeno Kitchen Tips, and Baby Dreams

I've been interested in homemade salsa lately. This is a very basic recipe, but I want to explore and find different types to play with and post later. What started this whole interest was when I went on vacation to TN (remember? I bought a million dollars worth of clay pottery. hehe). We went to a Mexican restaurant where the food was amazing, the restaurant was colorful, family friendly, and we just had a great time. The salsa was actually pretty plain but I LOVED it. The reason it was so delicious was because it was fresh. You could taste that it was made THAT day. They didn't need a lot of spices or fancy ingredients, it was simply fresh. I wanted to recreate that experience. While this isn't exactly the same, it's still pretty darn good. I made ours super hot (as in burn your stomach hot) by chopping up 2 whole jalapenos with seeds. Use 1 jalapeno and no seeds to keep things mild.

Kitchen Tip: I do not touch jalapenos and I never remember to buy gloves. When I use them, I simply get a pair of very sharp scissors and while holding the stem, I cut them lengthwise into as many pieces as I can (stopping right before the seeds if I plan to leave them out), and then while still holding the stem I cut the pepper crosswise to make little pieces. Once I'm done, I pitch the stem and the scissors go into the dishwasher. Now when I take my contacts out at night, my eyes will not burn for several minutes. Woohoo!

Expect more salsa posts in the future and please share your recipes with me as well!

Salsa I
Serving Size = About 2 cups

• 1/4 cup or so of cilantro
• 4 - 6 large roma tomatoes (mine were abnormally large)
• 1 very small onion, chopped (and my onion was abnormally small)
• 1 - 2 jalapenos, chopped
• 1/2 - 1 teaspoon of salt, to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon oil
• 1/2 tablespoon vinegar (apple cider is fine)
• 1 garlic clove, grated (I just use a microplane)
• 1 teaspoon or so of ground cumin, to taste

1. Place everything into a food processor and pulse for a few seconds until it reaches desired consistency. Or chop everything up by hand and mix. Let is sit out at room temperature for an hour, mix and then refrigerate.

Baby update! --- Dreaming of Baby

I'm feeling better about the names. I'm pretty sure we're going with the name Emmett because I had a dream about it. I know, silly, but it's true. I dreamt that I was looking out the window while Mimi and our baby boy were playing (they were running around their playground set -- Mimi first, baby boy following) and I yelled at them, "Mimi, Emmett, it's time to come in." And both of them came running. He was adorable with dark brown hair, brown eyes, and his skin was a tiny bit darker than Mimi's. He was also a little bit chunky. He was wearing jeans and a dark brown, zip-up, heavy knitted sweater (it was autumn, apparently).... very adorable. :) And what's interesting is that the dream was before I even seriously considered the name Emmett. I was actually leaning towards Eliot, so it seems like I would dream of that name, but I didn't. Another thing that's interesting is that I had a big and pregnant belly in my dream. Baby number 3???? haha!