Weekend Cooking

It has been SOOOO busy around our house and church lately that when I woke up Saturday morning and didn't have any files to type (I transcribe for a psych hospital on the weekends) I felt a surge of energy to oddly bake and clean. 

First on the list was:  CLEAN.  I had my staff children stay busy with chores helping me around the house.

I pulled out an old recipe that wasn't so great the first time I made it, (I lacked an ingredient), so I figured i would try it again.

Bean/Cheese Burrito Crockpot Casserole

**This was kinda bland by itself, but topped with sour cream wasn't too bad. I would switch to garlic salt instead of the powder and this will probably add more pizazz.  Also, I added some browned hamburger meat, and probably should have added more spices....so if you add hamburger, mix taco seasoning with your meat. 

Also, I had THE GIRL start a box (yes a box mix) of sugar cookies.  We needed to go meet the new neighbors and our previous batch of "from scratch" cookies were BAD.  I needed reassurance that I wasn't wasting ingredients.  Then THE BOY and THE GIRL and I (with aprons on) rolled out the dough and shaped our cookies.

While they were busy doing this, I was busy making homemade Salsa.  I haven't actually tried it yet as I have two 1/2 bottles in the fridge.  If it is any good, I will post the recipe later.  :)  (I had to reduce the recipe 1/4 since it called for 16 lbs of tomatoes and I had about 5 lbs.)

 Then onto the cinnamon rolls. 

I took the picture while they were rising again the second time.  These were yummy straight out of the oven...

What a productive day it was and it was really great to have the kids help and create memories together. 

Making my own salsa

I ran out of salsa the other day, had no time to run to the store and figured I would make my own with the meager supplies I had onhand.

So I google salsa......Blender salsa....sounds easy enough......so I did that. 

Ingredients

• 2 (14.4 ounce) cans diced tomatoes (Aldi rotel style is what I used)
• 1 jalapeno chile, seeds and ribs removed
• 1/2 yellow onion, quartered
• 1/2 bunch cilantro leaves
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste
• salt to taste

I didn't have the crossed out items AND I used a purple onion.  Then I added some celery salt instead of regular salt, some red pepper flakes and blended away.  I also have recently discovered Cumin lately and figured since it is used in Mexican recipes, why not add it to salsa?

After blending and tasting and eating it right away for lunch I thought it was pretty good. A little runny, but it cured my "fix" for salsa.

HOWEVER, once it sat in the refrigerator and the flavors intermixed....holy batman that's some spicy salsa!

I made a bigger jar, but I already ate the rest of it, so this is all that is left at this point. :)

 Not to shabby for my first attempt.   It's a little too spicy and less flavorish, so I tried again, this time after I bought some lime juice and cilantro.

 

This time it's browner....(I still added 1 tsp. cumin and 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes, 2 tbsp.lime juice and 1 can "fire-roasted" canned tomatoes)  It tastes good initially, so I'm anxious to see how it turns out after the flavors combine. 

 

The next time I decide to do salsa, I'm gonna try this recipe for Fresh Tomato Salsa, as I would prefer it not to be so runny and would love it to be more chunky.  (I think I'm still gonna add some cumin and lemon juice too!)

Have you made salsa?  Do you have any tried and true recipes?