SaLsA!!

this past weekend, we celebrated cinco de mayo. what is cinco de mayo? ask any kid and they'll tell you they have no idea. ask any teenager and they'll tell you it's to celebrate mexican independence. although they would be wrong, it's fun to watch them try to prove how smart they are. i hosted a cinco de mayo party on saturday. one of our friends is from pakistan and it was fun to answer his questions about what cinco de mayo is and why we celebrate it. it was also fun listening to him try to pronounce "cinco de mayo." by the end of the night he was telling everyone "hasta manana." we're going to learn something in farsi to tell him next time we see him!

onto the party! i think at one point we had about 35 people crammed into our little apartment. good thing we had kasia mostly moved in with her extra chairs! it was wall to wall people...mainly from the ward and a few other friends. kasia and i started prepping for the party the day before. we had to make a few runs to Rancho Market for the veggies and fruit, and then a midnight walmart run for a spice. awesome. so in total, i made 8 salsas. yes, 8. here's the breakdown:

*pico de gallo

*salsa verde

*salsa de la gringa (salsa roja)

*cowboy salsa

*cucumber salsa

*mango salsa

*strawberry mango salsa

*pineapple salsa

the only ones i had made before was the salsa verde and cowboy salsa. my dear friend michelle taught me how to make the salsa verde when we were in college. i make it often during the summer when i can get yummy tomatillos and serrano chilis from the farmer's market. i don't remember when i first learned about cowboy salsa, but it's always something we've had at family gatherings. i would make it and then eat it for a week since it made so much. the rest i found off of pinterest and made a few enhancements of my own.



i don't know why, but i always get excited when i see fresh produce. the above picture is of the ingredients for most of the salsas...minus the fruit, avocados, cucumbers, and spices! the majority of the evening was spent breaking down the produce. i am now an expert at dicing everything. i did have to watch a tutorial on youtube to learn how to dice up a mango, but that's it.

behold the pico de gallo!! it was super easy to make! i just diced up the following ingredients and combined them together:

*12 roma tomatoes

*a handful of cilantro

*1 white onion

*1 jalapeno

*6 drops of tobasco sauce

*1 T vinegar

*juice of 1/2 a lemon and rind

*salt and pepper

*1 T garlic salt

*1/4 t ground cumin (secret ingredient)

now on to the green one of the bunch! i love salsa verde and use it up quickly after making it. i tried to tame it down a bit since i've found that most people in utah don't appreciate a little kick in the mouth. thank goodness kasia loves spices and heat!! there really isn't a "recipe" for this one per se, so i'll try to remember everything i used for it:

boil:

*10 tomatillos (washed)

*4 roma tomatoes

*10-14 serrano chilies (depending on the heat)

once the green items look brownish, put them in a blender with:

*a handful of cilantro

*a spoonful of minced garlic

*1 white onion

*salt and pepper

*lime juice

i don't have a large enough blender to blend all the ingredients at once, so i did it 3 times. good thing my downstairs neighbors are up late!

and voila! we have salsa verde! seriously the easiest thing to do to make a meal kick you in the face! it doesn't always turn out this green...almost brownish...you can help it out with food coloring...

not too long ago i made a mozzarella avocado tomato dip and added cucumbers to get a little more crunch. since they were on sale at Rancho Market, i ended up getting 6. needless to say, i had a few extra. i found a recipe for cucumber salsa that i fell in love with. out of all of the salsas i made, this one has to be in the top 2. it's so refreshing and healthy! and, it could also be eaten as a salad!

dice up and mix the following ingredients: 

*4 cucumbers (peeled and cut out the seeds)

*4 roma tomatoes

*1 green bell pepper

*1-2 jalapenos

*1 white onion

*1 spoonful of minced garlic

*juice of a lime

*1 handful of italian parsley

*2 handfuls of cilantro

*salt

*1 t dried dill weed

one thing i learned from this salsa: parsley actually has a distinct taste and smell! weird, but i always thought it was just a decoration!!

as i mentioned above, i had to watch a youtube tutorial on how to cut a mango. i think this was my first time cutting one up. i always got mango slices to eat when i would be at disneyland, but i never had a reason to buy them whole before. they have a weird core which is not exactly like a seed...more like a core in a pineapple. there's not a real clear line on where to cut around it, so i had to guess. then i turn in almost inside out and it's pretty easy from there. and pretty.

dice up the following and mix together:

*2 mangoes

*red bell pepper

*3 stalks of green onions

*1 handful of cilantro

*1 jalapeno

*juice of 1 lime

*juice of 1/2 a lemon

 

i debated about whether or not i should make both a mango salsa and a strawberry mango salsa. i thought that since they both had mango as a key ingredient, people would think they tasted the same. boy was i wrong! the only similarity between the 2 was the mango and nothing else really that stood out. plus, i was excited to use strawberries...it's been a while since i've seen them in the stores (the good ones).

dice and mix the following together:

*2 mangoes

*1 carton of strawberries (add a little sugar on top if they're a little bitter)

*1 red onion

*6-8 basil leaves

*juice of 1/2 a lemon

*salt and pepper

isn't it pretty?? it was the most colorful and was the first to be devoured. thank goodness i tried it right after i made it...otherwise i wouldn't have gotten any!!

pineapple salsa is a dessert. just saying. it was so yummy! i knew that i was going to have a guy over who is a pineapple lover and i wanted to blow him away! i think i did...

dice and combine the following ingredients:

*2 pineapples

*1 handful of cilantro

*1 red onion

*1 jalapeno

*3 stalks of green onions

*zest and juice of 1 lime

*dash of sugar

*salt and pepper

cowboy salsa is a tradition in my little household. i love making it since the ingredients are pretty cheap and i usually have most of them lying around. this was a good comfort salsa to make.

ingredients:

*2 cans black eyed peas

*2 cans white northern beans

*can of corn

*5 avocados diced

*6 roma tomatoes dices

*large handful of cilantro

*5 stalks of green onions

*juice of 1 lime

*bottle of italian salad dressing (i'm a snob and will only use wish-bone)

i didn't get a picture of the salsa de la gringa because it was the last one i made on friday night and i was zonked! i'm excited to still have a little left of it! the recipe is pretty easy and is made in a blender:

*2 cans diced tomatoes

*2 cans of rotel tomatoes (yeah, had to learn what those were)

*1 white onion

*1 jalapeno

*1 t honey (right?)

*1 t salt

*1/2 t ground cumin (haha we meet again)

*handful of cilantro

*juice of 1 lime

so this is what my fridge looked like on saturday afternoon before the party. good thing kasia and i hadn't gone grocery shopping for reals yet, otherwise i would have had to borrow my neighbor's fridge! the party was a success and i had so much fun learning how to make more of the "fun" kinds of salsa that you don't usually see. it was a long process, however. i started on friday night around 10 and finished around 2pm on saturday. i only have a few salsas left and had one for lunch. it was a lot of work, but so worth it!!