Herb Roasted Chicken

Hello all.  Hope you had a great weekend and you are settling into the "back to school" routine that is already here in most places.  Because we were looking for a place to live, packing, and moving in June and July, I feel as if the summer flew by and we missed it.  Now, the sun is lower in the sky and there is a feeling of fall in the air.  That's okay though as it is my favorite season and I totally look forward to it.

The condominium we are living in has a lovely pool, and two of our grandsons and their mom and dad came over for a late afternoon swim a couple of Friday's ago.  I had told them I would make dinner so they didn't have to rush home and try to feed their two little ones.  It's so nice to be able to prepare meals again, now that everything is out of boxes.  Eating out loses it's enchantment quickly.  Home cooked meals are tastier, cheaper to fix, and so much healthier.  And, I just happen to like cooking.

I had two whole chickens that I had planned on frying, but somehow that seemed like too much effort for a Friday evening.  Perhaps something baked?  I went to my "go to" web site, Allrecipes.com, to look for something different.  This herbed chicken was one of the first recipes that popped up and it sounded easy and delicious.

I would compare this to the roasted chickens you can buy at the grocery or Sam's Club only better.  It was soooooo good and easy to make.  Here is what you do.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit.

Spice Mix:

1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp drie basil
1/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (I baked 2 chickens so I doubled this recipe.)

Mix spices together in a bowl and put aside.

Rinse the chicken inside and out and pat dry with paper towels.

Put the whole chicken in a baking pan, breast side up.  Rub the entire chicken with some good olive oil.  Sprinkle the spice mix over the chicken and rub it all over.

Put the baking pan with chicken in the 450 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees and roast for an additional 40-45 minutes or until the internal temperature is 165 degrees.  Let cool 10-15 minutes before serving.  (The leg/thigh section should fall away from the chicken and juices should run clear)

Cut the legs, thighs, and wings away from the chicken.  Carve the breast meat.  Serve.

I have to say, this is one of the best roasted chickens I have ever made or eaten.  It was simply delicious.  Actually, I roasted two at the same time.  We ate one and I had the second one to use the next day.  The meat was so tender and flavorful, the skin was brown and crispy -  mm, mm, delicious.

There are so many uses for the left over roasted chicken.  You can make chicken salad, use it in a casserole, make sandwiches, or put it on a green salad.  Makes dinner preparation so easy for another meal.

This recipe is one you should put in your "go to" file for those days when you want something comforting, delicious, but not too much trouble.  You can make this one hands down.  Everyone will think you spent hours slaving in the kitchen.  Just don't tell them otherwise.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Cooking is like love.  It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.  Harriet Van Horne






 

Storage Solutions

 On May 1 and 2, 2010, torrential rains fell in middle Tennessee with some areas receiving as much as 19 inches of rain in a matter of hours causing devastating floods in many parts of the area.  The Cumberland River runs through Nashville, winding like a snake so that it affects many areas.  On the west side of town, there is the Cumberland and the Harpeth River which also flooded.  

The house we lived in previous to our present home was directly across from the Cumberland River.  We could see Opry Mills Outlet Mall across the river.  Opry Mills sits on the land where Opryland used to be.  Our house had 40 inches of water in it at the time of the flood.  That was before we moved to Nashville and the house was completely rebuilt after the flood.

The thing that is hard to imagine is that we were way above the river which means there was an unimaginable amount of water that flooded both sides of the river - Opry Mills, the beautiful Opryland Hotel, and the Grand Ol' Opry on the east bank of the river - and many, many homes on the west bank of the river where our house was located.  This happened all over the city in the low places between the hills.  A lot of downtown was flooded because it sits along the river.  If you have never been to Nashville, it is extremely hilly which means the water ran to all the low places.

On the west side of town where we now live, there was also a lot of flooding because there are two rivers running through the area.  Many homes have not yet been rebuilt.  The condominium complex we are living in also received flood damage.  That meant there was a need for rebuilding all over the area and quickly so that people could return to their homes.  It did not mean that all of the contractors and builders were necessarily the best in town.  Everyone was in demand.  Our condominium had to have work done in it.  You are probably asking yourself what the odds are of moving from one flooded area to another?  Actually, they are quite high since there was so much flooding.  The May, 2010, flood was declared a 1,000 year flood which means the chances of it happening again are practically nil, thank goodness.

The only problem I had with this condo when we leased it was that the top cabinets in the kitchen are really high in the air.  Like someone who is 6'5" could use these cabinets.  I am only slightly over 5 feet tall and I can only reach the knob on the bottom cabinet.  Therefore, all the top cabinets are pretty much useless to me except for things I don't use often.

There was a contractor working on the bathroom when we first moved in and I asked about the cabinets.  He said there should have been at least a 12" space at the top of the cabinets, with 3 less rows of tile between the top and bottom cabinets.  Presently, the tops of the cabinets are against the ceiling.  So, it wasn't just my imagination!  Our landlady said she will have them moved down which is awesome.  It just won't be right away.  Therefore, I had to find a storage solution for all my casseroles, glasses, platters, etc.  All my cooking pans are on shelves in the utility closet, but this is what I came up with for the kitchen.

Since open shelves are quite the rage now in kitchen decorating, I thought why not use my bookshelves to solve my dilemma.  So, that's what I did.  I had an old white bookshelf that had been in our daughters' room while they were growing up.  These shelves held all their memorabilia from school.  When we moved from Evansville, I boxed all that up and sent it to live with them.  The bookshelf came with us, since there were no built ins in our new home.  After we moved in, we purchased another bookshelf to hold all our games, videos, and books.  I could not find a white one, so we bought a black one and they lived side by side in our sun room.  These were going to become my kitchen solution after our move here.

They needed to match, so we primed them with white primer so there would be no bleed through on the new paint.  I used flat white paint on the outsides, and Annie Sloan chalk paint on the insides of the shelves.  I did not want them to be to matchy/matchy with the bar stools, so I combined some Duck Egg Blue and Provence Blue to create a color similar to the bar stools, but slightly darker.

Then, it was a matter of placing all the "stuff" on the shelves.  If you look, the bowls on the middle of the top shelf are older than me.  (Didn't think that was possible did you?)  They were my moms and she got married in 1947.  Most of my casseroles were wedding gifts in 1969 and I still use them every day.  Now, they are past "vintage" and almost antiques.  They have certainly been useful all these years.

The bottom right shelf contains many of my cookbooks and the baskets above contain all my cloth napkins, dish cloths, and tea towels.  It is actually quite handy and I really like the look.  It's much easier than trying to pull things out of cabinets.  I may just keep it this way.

 This arrangement also solves the problem of where to put the trash can.    That seems to be an issue in almost every kitchen I have ever had.  Do you have that problem or is it just me?  The trash can now sits to the right of the bookshelves in a perfect little unobtrusive space.  Two problems solved.  I love when that happens.

This is another instance of thinking outside the box to solve a problem.  Storage can be such an issue.  If you are having storage problems, look around and think about what you could use or do differently to stretch or create new storage.  It doesn't have to be expensive.  Two $30 bookshelves and some paint solved our problem.  It could solve yours too.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Look through magazines, catalogs, and websites like Houzz.com for ideas.  You don't have to spend a lot of money on expensive furniture.  There are thrift stores, Goodwill, craigslist, and consignment stores where you can find real bargains to solve a dilemma.  All it takes is a little imagination and some paint.  You can do it!  donna

Loving Our New Home

 Hellooooooo everyone.  It's been quite a while since I have posted to my blog because we have been moving to a new home.  Talk about a time killer.  First, we were notified that our landlord was going to put the house we were living in on the market.  Shock and despair was the first reaction, then we immediately got over that and knew we had to get busy, busy finding a new place to live.

Nashville has been fairly impervious to the real estate meltdown that has occurred in a lot of the country because the job market has remained good and so has the real estate market.  Let me put it this way, prices on rents and homes here are sky rocketing.  People are moving here in droves and the inventory is limited which has driven rent prices WAY up.  Not good for us old fogies living on fixed incomes.  So, the hunt was on and I was spending hours on rental sites like craigslist, Zillow, Trulia, Homes.com.  Every few hours I would scan them all looking for anything in our price range, calling, driving to look at them and experiencing a lot of disappointment.  But, if you are persistent and keep a positive attitude, the perfect place will appear and it did!  We found a lovely condo that had just been redone and we were lucky enough to be chosen to live in it.  It really is like winning the lottery at the moment if you are the lucky one chosen for the place you want.  Places are being rented site unseen.  It's kind of crazy.

Next, it was weeks of packing, pitching, and donating.  Then came the big day.  We worked hard in the heat of July loading and unloading the moving truck.  Then, two  weeks of unpacking and placing things.  Rearranging, getting it right.  You know how it goes.

Anyway, This is a picture of our beautiful new kitchen.  It is different from anything we have had before because it is contemporary and I am more of a shabby chic/country kind of girl.  Here is the kitchen before we moved in.

 It's very sleek and I love it.  The 5 burner gas stove is a dream!!  I knew we needed some kind of bar stools for the counter.  Especially since I sold our table and chairs to the couple buying the house we lived in.  It would not fit in this setting.  So, we had to have someplace to sit until I decide on the kind of table and chairs I want in here.  (I do have some ideas!)

The search for bar stools was on.  I looked at several places and was very discouraged at the cost and there wasn't a lot of them that I liked.  A light bulb went off in my head one day and I told Dan we needed to make a trip to the Habitat Re-Store here in Nashville.  It was truly our lucky day.  They had the bar stools in the picture for $ 7.00 each.  You read that right - $7.00 each.  Talk about the right price!!  I had seen similar ones at Target for $99.00 each.  That was not happening, but these beauties were coming home with us.

These bar stools didn't look like they do in the picture above.  Actually, they were pretty grungy, but the bones were good.  They were good and sturdy. Paint and fabric would make them ours.  This is how they looked.

Yeah, the seats were GROSS, but they could be recovered.  We paid for the stools and crammed them in our car.  Next, it was a stop to get some Annie Sloan chalk paint at my favorite little supplier, C'est Moi in Brentwood.  Once again, I wanted something a little different color wise from what I had been using.  Annie Sloan paints are based on historical colors and I fell in love with the Provence Blue which is a sort of turquoise color.  Paint purchased and on to the next stop at the home dec fabric stores.

There are several really great home decorator fabric stores here in the area and I hit all of them.  I found what I wanted at the last store (of course).  The background is a gold color with dark red roses, green leaves and hints of the turquoise color in the smaller flowers.  Perfect.

Annie Sloan paint can be used over most anything without priming.  They do recommend priming over dark wood if you are using a light colored paint.  I didn't want to risk bleed through from the dark stain on the stools, so I primed them all with white primer.

 All the stools were then painted with the Provence Blue and waxed with Annie Sloan clear wax.  I recovered the seats with the beautiful new fabric and sprayed them all with Scotch Guard.  Here is the finished product.

Oh, I  am so happy with the way they turned out and it saved us hundreds of dollars.  That is the very best part!  They are definitely being put to good use.

Next time you need or want to make a change, consider recycling something you have or buying from a thrift store.  Purchasing from a Habitat Re-Store helps fund habitat homes.  Picture a piece in a new and different way.  It's so creative and fun to see the results - and it's super friendly on the old pocket book and environment!

I'm so glad to be back and will be sharing all kinds of new recipes and ideas.  Hope to see you here!

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

It doesn't have to cost a lot to look good and serve a purpose.   See things with new eyes!   donna

Strawberry Pie Recipe

 Pie - not to be confused with Pi, which is a mathematical constant. The number pi (symbol: π) /paɪ/ is a mathematical constant that is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, and is approximately equal to 3.14159.  Remember that? You don't need it for this recipe.   P I E pie is something deliciously good to eat.  Guess which one we prefer?

You can make a one crust pie, top crust pie (sometimes called cobbler), or two crust pie.  Do you have a preference?  Personally, they are all good in my book.

Strawberries.  Red.  Juicy.  Delicious.  Local strawberries are the best, but are only in season for about a month in the spring, usually late April or the month of May.  Last year it was warm and dry and berries were gone by the first of May.  This spring, it has been cool and damp and we are still able to buy local berries because they did not come in until about the second week of May.  The weather is the main indicator of when berries will be available.

The first garden strawberry was grown in France during the late 18th century.  Prior to this, wild strawberries and cultivated selections from wild strawberry species were the common source of the fruit.  Records show that wild strawberries were being cultivated as far back as the 1500's.  Needless to say, they were only available for short periods of time.  Now, due to strawberries being grown in plasticulture and some green houses, they are available all year round.  The biggest difference between the year round berries and local berries is the local berries are a bit smaller, sweeter, and much juicier than the "store bought" variety available during the year.  

We are always excited when the local berries become available.  We are happy to just wash them off and eat them right out of the container they are so sweet and good.  But, of course, the uses for strawberries are plentiful.  Strawberry shortcake is one of the most well known ways to eat strawberries.  You can make preserves with them, lots of desserts, eat them over ice cream, or make strawberry smoothies and milkshakes.  Yum.  

I had bought a gallon of fresh strawberries at the local Farmer's Market and knew I would make some strawberry pies with them.  I had just cleaned my house for my sister's weekend visit and didn't want to mess up the kitchen floor making crusts so I sent Dan to the store to buy some pre made deep dish pie crusts. (Yes, I have flour everywhere when I make pie crusts.)  Someone didn't read the label and came home with regular pie crusts, so my pies are a little less "deep dish" that I would have liked, but it didn't make a whole lot of difference when it came to eating them, just in the looks.  Here is what you need to make one pie.

1 deep dish pre made pie crust or make a single crust from scratch, bake according to directions, remove from oven and let cool before filling.

Pie Filling

1  quart whole fresh strawberries
1 cup white sugar
3 TBSP cornstarch
3/4 cup water

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Remove the stems and caps from all the berries.  Wash and let drain.  Pat dry. 

Arrange 1/2 of the strawberries in the baked pastry shell.  You may want to cut some of the larger ones in half so they lay flat in the pie crust.  Mash remaining berries and combined with sugar in a medium saucepan.  Place the saucepan over medium heat and bring the contents to a boil, stirring frequently.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and water.  Gradually stir the cornstarch mixture into the boiling strawberries mixed with sugar.  Reduce the heat and simmer until the mixture thickens., stir often to keep from sticking or scorching.  If you have never made this kind of filling, the mixture will thicken rather suddenly, so don't get discouraged thinking it will never happen.  It will.  

Pour the mixture over the berries in the baked pie crust.  Chill several hours before serving.

Make Whipped Cream

Put the chilled heavy whipping cream in a deep bowl.  Mix with an electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks begin to form.  Add 1 - 2 TBSP sugar and 1 tsp vanilla.  Continue to whip until stiff peaks form.  Stiff peaks means they will stand on their own without falling over.   Spread the whipped cream over the chilled pie, serve.  Try not to eat it all yourself.  Good luck.

This is a really easy recipe and contains no additives or chemicals from artificial contents that some recipes use.  It is also super delicious!  Dan has had waaaaaaay too many pieces at this point, but that's okay.  Just confirmation for how good the pies are.  

If you still have local berries available, you will really want to make at least one of these pies if not more.  You can use berries from the grocery store if you don't have access to the smaller, sweeter, local berries.  Actually, you can make this recipe all year long using imported berries.  Nothing wrong with that!  It's all good.

Once you make this recipe, you are going to want to make more.  Betcha.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Doubtless, God could have made a better berry (than the strawberry), but doubtless, God never did.
William Allen Butler

Fresh Peach and Blueberry Bread - Delicioso!

 Here we are in the first week of June already.  This year is flying by.  Today, we got to attend our 6 year old grandson's "bridge" ceremony which is a Waldorf education celebration of moving from kindergarden to the halls of higher learning, better known as first grade.  As I watched him cross the bridge from the land of childhood, play, and imagination, into the land of higher learning where the road to maturity begins, my heart was filled with joy.  The teacher told a beautiful story about the land of the littles and what it was like before they chose their families and came to earth - the beautiful blue and green world of plants, animals, and minerals.  As they crossed the bridge, the teacher gave them a key to wear around their necks (the key to higher learning) and a small bag containing a gift from the animal, plant, and mineral world.  Then they received a yellow rose and joined their families.  There were tears (just in case  you wondered).  It was a wonderful way to start the week.

We had a busy weekend.  My sister, Sara, and our longtime friend, Linda, came to visit for the weekend.  We toured the city, ate a lot of good food, and even did some honky tonkin' on Broadway here in Nashville.  There is so much good music going on in this town.  Talk about a fun way to spend Saturday afternoon.  If you ever come to the city, do NOT miss all the music.  Nashville is Music City, USA, after all.

Knowing they were coming to visit, I baked some goodies to have on hand.  First, I made two fresh strawberry pies which I will write about tomorrow.  Since fresh peaches are coming in from Georgia, I had some on hand that I had purchased at the Nashville Farmer's Market.  Now, there is always that conundrum of what to do with peaches after you make a cobbler, or slice some up to enjoy on cake or with ice cream.  You can always eat one whole (peeled I hope, peach skin makes me shiver), but there has to be many more things you can make with sweet, ripe, juicy peaches.

I found this recipe for peach/carrot bread on All Recipes.com.  The recipe sounded so good, but I didn't know how I felt about peaches and carrots and I really didn't want to stand and grate carrots.  Personally, I prefer peaches and blueberries.  I often add blueberries to my peach cobbler because they complement each other so beautifully.  I had blueberries on hand, so I substituted blueberries for the carrots.  Guess what?  It works!  It works superbly!!  This bread is awesome!!!!  Here is what you need.

3/4 cups chopped pecans
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups peeled, chopped fresh peaches
3/4 cup fresh blueberries
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
2 large eggs lightly beaten

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl using a spoon.  Pour the batter into a 9 x 5 loaf pan that has been lightly greased and floured.  Place in a 350 degree preheated oven and bake for 1 hour and 5 to 10 minutes.  Test the center of the loaf with a skewer in the center until it comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and let cool before removing from the pan.

This recipe makes a very large loaf.  It fills the loaf pan to the top when baked, so be sure and bake it until very done in the center.  I took mine out at 1 hr 5 minutes and tested it with a toothpick.  The toothpick showed clean, but the bread was a little underdone in the center when we ate it.  (I would recommend a skewer instead of a toothpick so it goes down into the loaf further.) No one seemed to mind one bit though.  Everyone had several pieces in fact.  This is DELICIOUS!

You can see the peaches and the blueberries, and the pecans add a nice texture to the bread with that lovely hint of cinnamon.  Mmm.  Mmm.  Mmm.  It's sort of like baked peach cobbler without having to make a crust.

There will be fresh peaches from now until the first part of September.  Here is a recipe  you can use that is something different, easy, and soooooo good.  Makes some loaves and freeze them.  It is awesome for breakfast or brunch.  Fabulous with coffee.  If you want to try the carrots, just use 3/4 cups grated carrots in place of the blueberries.  If you make it that way, let me know how it turns out.  We will stick with the blueberries.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

It's nice to have some home baked goods for company.  It let's them know you thought of them and wished to honor them with something from your hands and heart.  donna

Spiced Pecan Cake

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Has it seemed like Monday all day to you?  It sure has to me!  Those Monday holidays mess up my week, especially since I don't go to work everyday.  Sometimes I have to look at my phone to see what day it actually is.

Hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend.  We celebrated with family and friends with a cookout enjoying the first of the summer bounty from the Farmer's Market.  Fresh strawberries, corn, green beans, and peaches are in.  Yum.  One of the most enjoyable things about summer is the bounteous fare of fresh fruits and vegetables we get to enjoy.  And, then, there is the beautiful sunshine, warm weather, and summer evenings to top it all off.

Fresh local strawberries are the absolute best don't you think?  It's nice to have access to strawberries all year round, but they just don't taste like the smaller, juicier, sweeter, local berries.  They are just a little taste of heaven as far as I am concerned.

I made this beautiful pecan cake with some of the fabulous pecans my new friend Dianna sent me from Texas.  They pick them up off the ground by the pounds.  There are pecan trees everywhere in the Dallas area.  Yes, I said pounds. Wouldn't that be wonderful?  My daughter told me there is a company you can take them to and they shell them for you.  Amazing!  Who knew?  It's sure better than cracking hundreds of shells and trying to get the nuts to come out in something other than little tiny pieces.  Look at these beauties!

We have bags of them to enjoy.  Lucky us!  So, I decided to make this fabulous pecan cake I found on Food Network.com.  The recipe was posted by Pat and Gina Neeley and is really, really good.  Makes a super "shortcake" for fresh fruit.  Here is what you need:

Filling

1 1/4 cups chopped pecans
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Stir everything together in a bowl until all the nuts are coated.  Set aside.

Glaze:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp milk

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Cake

1 package golden yellow cake mix
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, grease and flour a 9x13 pan

Beat all cake ingredients together for 4 minutes.  Pour half the batter into the prepared cake pan.  Spread the pecan filling on top of the batter.  Pour remaining batter over pecans, spreading batter to cover the filling.

Bake about 30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool 30 minutes.  Drizzle with glaze.

This cake is as good by itself as it is with some beautiful strawberries!  Makes a perfect "coffee type cake" that could be served for brunch.   Or, it's absolutely delicious eaten just as it is.  Give it a try.  It's delicious.

 Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

 A special thank you to my dad and his two brothers who all served in World War II.  As a mother, I can't imagine seeing three of your sons go off to war.  What a sacrifice.  Fortunately, they all returned.  Others were not so fortunate.   Thank you will never be enough for their service and sacrifice for our freedom.

Restaurant Style Salsa Roja Made At Home

 Do you love Tex-Mex food as much as we do?  Especially the chips and salsa?  Oh, we always eat too many chips and way too much salsa and then are so full we can't eat our food.  Guess that's okay really, because then we have some leftovers for the next day.

Did you know that salsa is now the number one condiment in the United States?  We eat more salsa in this country than ketchup.  Hard to believe, but it's true.  Salsa is the spanish word for sauce and there are many, many kinds of salsa.  When we refer to salsa, we mean the red kind served at most Tex-Mex restaurants with chips.

Eating salsa at home is a different story.  The biggest problem for me is we don't like jarred salsa.   It always has green peppers in it and Dan can't eat green peppers.  It also doesn't taste like fresh salsa.  You can get some fresh salsa's that are pretty good in the fresh food aisle at the grocery store IF your grocery sells it.  If you can't get it, I have a solution for you!

I have been messing around trying to find a good home made recipe for salsa and I have finally hit upon it.  Dan LOVES this salsa (and he's kind of picky).  It's made with canned tomatoes which means the tomatoes have been cooked and that actually makes them better for you!  Did you know that?  Yes, there is more lycopene in cooked tomatoes.  Lycopene inhibits cancer and cardiovascular disease in humans.

This recipe is really quite easy to make, but you need a blender or food processor to make it.  It is not chopped like pico de gallo which is called salsa fresca and is made from fresh tomatoes, onions, chilies, and lime juice.  Good pico depends on good tomatoes which only happen in the summer around here.  It also takes a lot of chopping.  Salsa roja can be made year round because you can always get canned tomatoes and you can use a blender or food processor.  Guess which one I prefer?

Here is what you need for this salsa.

1 large can whole tomatoes, drained
1 can Ro-Tel original, undrained (unless you like it really spicy, then get the hot kind)
1 small onion, cut in half, chop 1/2 only
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 or 3 limes (depending on size)
1 bunch fresh cilantro
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar

To make the salsa, drain the can of large tomatoes and put them in the blender or food processor.  Add the Ro-Tel liquid and all.  Cut the onion in half and chop only one half of the onion and toss in the blender.  If your garlic cloves are large, start with 1, use 2 if small.  Peel, chop and toss in blender.  Now for the fun.  I use the "grate" setting on our blender.  Whir it around just until the ingredients are mixed.  You do not want ketchup consistency, but want some tomato pieces in the salsa.  Next, add the salt, sugar, and juice of two limes, and a large handful of cilantro rough chopped.  Whir one more time.   Now taste.  If it needs more salt, add just a pinch.  The sugar is important because it helps cut the acidity of the tomatoes, but don't make it too sweet.  Adjust lime and garlic to your tastes.

We had a big old bowl of this salsa with dinner tonight.  It's delicious.  Also, a serving of salsa counts as a serving of vegetables, so if you have children who are picky eaters but will eat salsa, let them eat away!!

This recipe makes about 4 cups of salsa.  I keep it in the fridge most of the time.  You never know when you might have some unexpected company, want a snack, or something to serve as an appetizer before dinner.  Salsa roja = perfect!  Give it a try.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

A world without tomatoes is like a string quartet without violins.  Laurie Colwin