Fresh Salsa

My very favorite salsa has been and will always be my Aunt Jan's homemade salsa. It's summer time and I got a huge box of tomatoes a few weeks ago and summer tomatoes equal salsa in my book. Here's the fabulous recipe. Keep in mind that you can kick-up the heat as much as you want...the heat valve is the jalapeno.

Fresh Salsa
4-5 Roma tomatoes, diced
1-14.5oz can crushed tomatoes
1/2 of a jalapeno pepper (seeded and deveined)
1 whole onion, diced
cilantro, as desired and chopped
juice of 1 lime
2 cloves of fresh garlic
salt & pepper to taste

Add onions, garlic, and jalapeno to a food processor and chop finely. Add Roma tomatoes, can crushed tomatoes, pulse a few times to combine. Pour into a bowl. Squeeze in lime juice and toss in chopped cilantro. Mix and add salt and pepper to taste.

Makes about 40oz.

Tart Tzatziki Recipe Adds Some Pizzaz to A Turkey Sandwich

I love Greek food. I'm by no means an expert on Greek food. In fact my experience is pretty much limited to My Big Fat Greek Restaurant and two Greek Festivals held here in AZ. However, what I have had is delicious. I've pretty much mastered the hummus (if you want a killer hummus recipe check out my Megan's Corner blog) and so I wanted to tackle another favorite of mine -- Tzatziki. For those of you who are not familiar with this tart, cool, and refreshing Greek cucumber dip here is your chance. It really is darn simple to make and it can be paired with sooooo many things -- crackers, vegetables, pita bread, as a hamburger or turkey burger condiment, or sandwich spread.

First, because it's a "dip" there is a lot of flexibility in the proportions, so everything I have in this recipe is an approximation and can be adjusted according to your taste's. Here's the recipe:

Tzatziki
1 cup seeded & shredded cucumber
12 oz Greek yogurt (some times hard to find, look in the organic section or foreign cheese section of your grocery store)
6 oz sour cream
2 cloves crushed garlic (warning...I love garlic)
3 TBS finely chopped dill
juice from 1/2 a lemon
salt and pepper to taste


Seed, peel and shred your cucumber.You have to squeeze some of the water out of the cucumber so put your shredded cucumber in a paper towel and squeeze it out over the sink -- you'll be surprised at how much water comes out of it -- you don't have to squeeze it bone dry, just take some of the water out.Then mix the cucumber with all of the other ingredients. And you're done. The flavor will intensify as it sits.Tonight I spread the tzatziki on some whole wheat greek flat bread added sliced turkey, tomatoes, cucumber slices (I know...redundant), lettuce, and avacado. It was AWESOME!
If you would like this recipe for yourself, I've made a quick recipe card. Just click on the thumbnail below and then print off the larger image.