Of chips and salsa...

If you know me at all, you know that I am salsa-lover. I still remember going to a slumber party at a friends' house in high school and spending pretty much my entire evening at the table, bellied up to the chips and salsa, sometimes with a friend next to me, sometimes all to my lonesome self. At that time in my life it might have been homemade, it might have been--it shames me to admit it--Pace picante sauce. But as the years have gone by I could be what some might call a "salsa snob." Don't even think of bringing a bottle of Pace, or El Paso, or any of those others into my home. It defies everything that we have tried so hard to achieve in our family.

Today I have been thinking about this love of mine. I decided to put down for posterity my three main choices for salsa in three different levels of difficulty:

Just open the can: The only store-bought salsa I enjoy these days is, can you believe it:

Yeah, and it's only about 50 or 60 cents a can. Nice, small quantity. Best served cold with really good chips (that's an entirely separate post). I do not enjoy this salsa as much with anything less than restaurant-style tortilla chips. It just doesn't do it for me with regular chips. Only buy if you can handle spicy.

Open-the-can-plus: The second-easiest salsa ever I got from a lady in our previous ward who brought it to a ward party. Mark and I thought it was regular homemade salsa. Tricky woman.

• 1 can Ro-Tel regular or mild tomatoes and green chiles
• 1 can Ro-tel Mexican Fiesta tomatoes
• Fresh cilantro to taste
• salt and pepper to taste

So, drain your tomatoes (one or both cans) and add to a blender. Break off a small handful of cilantro, throw it in, and get a little bit of salt and pepper in there to join the party. Blend to your heart's content. That's it. Really. The trick is in the fresh cilantro.

Warning: This one is also pretty spicy. You might be able to tame the heat by subbing some other brand of tomatoes w/ green chiles and then using a Ro-Tel Mexican Fiesta.

An Actual Recipe:

This, my friends, is Mark's and my favorite salsa recipe. Courtesy of a salsa recipe book that my friend Rebekah gave me that she bought in the BYU bookstore (what a great friend...)

Salsa for a Crowd (altered just a smidge)

3 cans (28 oz) stewed tomatoes

3 medium fresh tomatoes, diced

3 entire bunches green onions, chopped

1 (4 oz) can diced jalapenos (these aren't very spicy, but use less if you're whimpy)

2 cloves of garlic, pressed

1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

1 (7 oz) can green chiles.

Combine. Makes 6 cups. Yum. And, unless I am making this for a true crowd, I usually make a third of it. I think giving Mark a jar of this salsa pretty much was what won him over six saucy years ago.

Hope I haven't wasted your time. Now, don't all go rushing out to the store at once.