Cranberry Salsa

I love this cranberry salsa.   It's amazingly delicious.  It's easy.  It's pretty.  It's all kinds of healthy.

I discovered the recipe over a year ago in a local newspaper.  I made it all last fall and winter and forgot about it until just last weekend.   What a treat to find the clipping and be inspired to make it again.  I'm putting it here so I won't lose it again, and so you can try making it.

Fresh Cranberry Salsa  (makes ~1 quart)

1 package fresh cranberries (washed and picked over)
2-4 stalks celery
1/2 red onion
1  jalapeno (seeded)
4 Tbs  sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbs lime juice
cilantro to taste

chop everything fine, or use food processor

Mix it all up.  Done.

If you can wait 3-24 hrs for the flavors to meld, it will get even better, but I tend to gobble it up right away.

Notes and modifications:

This is only a little spicy, my kids like it.

I ran out of lime juice and used lemon juice - it was still pretty dang good.
Ditto on the red onion and substituting regular onion.

You can also halve the recipe, although I don't know why you'd want to.  I'd just eat any extra with a spoon.

Rene's Dad's Salsa

Fall is here and the mornings are giving us a hint of the frost that can't be far behind. It's time to use up all those tomatoes and peppers that are finishing in your garden or on sale at the markets.

Here's where I admit, yet again, that a foreigner is better at an ethnic recipe than me. ;-) OK, so we're both American, but Rene's Dad is of Dutch decent, and I'm of partial Hispanic decent. His salsa recipe is too excellent to turn my nose up at, so it's what I use. We ran out at the beginning of the summer, and this year my garden was almost worthless, so I'm using store bought veggies. Sigh.... poor me.

Rene's Dad's Salsa

1/2 bunch cilantro (~4 oz)
30 Roma tomatoes (~5 lbs)
1 jalapeno pepper
3 yellow or red sweet bell peppers
2-3 onions
2-3 green bell peppers
1 Tbs canning salt
15 oz tomato paste
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup white vinegar

Chop all vegetables very fine (skin tomatoes if desired)
Put all ingredients into bot and bring to a boil.
Simmer for 3-4 hrs

May can using water bath method for canning.

Notes and modifications:

Skim the extra liquid off if you like a thicker salsa. You can use the extra liquid for cooking other dishes.

I'm told you can halve this recipe, and I have successfully doubled and tripled it.

I have made lots of changed to this recipe as dictated by what I had on hand - different varieties of peppers and tomatoes, no tomato paste, more cilantro, and all of them have turned out great, just taste test as you go so you know what to expect. Some variations came out hotter than others. I give this away at Christmas time and it would be mean to give a spicy variation to my gringo friends. :-P

Warm chili for cool nights

My husband cooks. He even cooks really well. Here's one of his recipes that all the kids like. This is one we keep in the freezer for busy days, or to take to a family when they're needing someone else to feed them.

Steve's Turkey Chili (makes 17 cups)

3 lbs ground Turkey
1 + large onion, chopped or diced
1 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped or diced
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 Tbs oil
1 1/2 Tbs ground cumin
1 Tbs chili powder
1/4 tsp chipolte chili powder
2 28 oz cans diced tomatoes
1 Tbs mole paste (from Mexican section of the grocery)
2 15 oz cans kidney beans
1 15 oz can pinto beans
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onions, bell pepper and garlic in oil.
Add turkey and brown.
Add cumin, chili powders, salt and pepper while browning.
Add tomatoes, mole paste, beans and about 4 pints of water.
Cook down until flavors blend and pot thickens. (2-3 hours on med/low heat)


Notes and modifications:

This is not spicy chili. It's suitable for children and gringos. It doesn't have a bite, it has a nibble, a love bite perhaps.

I've successfully doubled this recipe. I can't imagine I have a pot big enough to triple it.

It freezes and reheats really well. Many the busy day has ended with me taking a tub of this out of the freezer and heating in on the stove while I put out bowls, bread, and salad.

I've used both ground chicken and ground beef in this, both worked, but turkey tastes better somehow.