Your Mama’s Salsa

No really.

The salsa I’m making here is my go to recipe. It’s likely the same kind of salsa your mama made, if your mama made salsa. I think the success of this recipe lies in its simplicity. There’s a great depth of flavor thanks to the roasting of a few ingredients, and brightness due to the onion, lime, and cilantro. I get a lot of compliments on this recipe. It's super easy and great to take to potlucks.

Now that I've hyped this salsa up, let’s get to it.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Ingredients:

Tomatoes (5-6 Reg or 10-11 Roma)

2 Jalapenos

3 Garlic Cloves

1 medium yellow onion

1 bunch of cilantro

1 lime

Salt, to taste

Canola Oil (approx. ½ tbsp.)

Place tomatoes, jalapenos, and garlic in an oven safe dish. Toss with oil. I've estimated the oil here. Really, a little goes a long way. You want just enough to coat everything.

Roast for 20 minutes, until the skin begins to blister and peels off easily. If the skin hasn't begun to separate from the tomato, leave in the oven longer. Ideally you don't want to go longer than 25 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool. Once cooled, peel skin off of tomatoes and jalapenos. Add tomatoes, jalapenos, garlic, juice of the lime, and salt to a food processor. Blend until smooth. You may have to do this in 2 batches due to the capacity of your food processor. Make sure to taste once

blended, this is your opportunity to add more lime or salt, depending on your taste. You may also want to start with one jalapeno in your mixture and then taste for heat level. Some jalapenos are spicier than others and you never know what you're going to get. If you are anti-spicy, after you peel the skin off of the jalapeno, slice the jalapeno length wise, and remove all of the seeds and ribs before

blending in the food processor. The flip side is also true; feel free to add more jalapeno if you want it really spicy, but I find two works for most people. I like the flavor of the jalapeno, but serrano peppers work here too.

While you're waiting for everything to cool, it's best to dice your onion and cilantro. I prefer a finer dice. I use the entire onion and the full bunch of cilantro. Once diced, throw both into a bowl. Go for a medium to medium/large bowl. This makes a lot of salsa.

Once your tomato mix is blended, add to the onion and cilantro bowl. Mix. Done.

Eat with chips.

Add to anything and everything.

Tip: My grandmother has always told me that you only want to use wooden spoons when mixing or scooping your salsa, so it won't get watery. I don't know if it's true, but why chance it? Use a wooden spoon.

Tip 2: Keep covered, in the refrigerator. I'd say it lasts about a week, but I don't know since we've never had any left on day 7.

Enjoy!

I scream, you scream...for Lemon Basil Ice Cream

Hello Robyn's faithful blog readers!

My name is Inez and will be guest blogging today. A little about me: I'm your modern day homemaker, I love food, I talk a lot, and I watch lots of reality TV. 

Still with me? Awesome. 

A few weeks ago, I sent Robyn home with lemons and she made an amazing lemon sorbet. I was inspired by her blog post and knew I wanted something equally fabulous. 

So, there are some things that I always have an abundance of at home.

Complaining children.
Shows to watch on the DVR.
Dishes that need to be washed.
Lemons.
And Basil.

So I thought, hey, two birds one stone, make Lemon Basil Ice Cream. I googled. I found this site, and it seemed easy enough. I didn't have enough heavy cream, so I adjusted slightly to 1.5 cups of heavy cream and 1.5 cups of milk.

Before you start, make sure your ice cream maker base has been in the freezer at least 12 hours.

Ingredients

1.5 cups heavy cream
1.5 cups 2% milk
1.5 cups basil
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 pinch of salt
5 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar

I started by adding the cream, milk, basil, lemon zest, and salt to a medium sized pot. I turned the heat to medium low and stirred constantly. Two things here, 1) I wanted to get the mixture just to boiling then turn it off, and 2) I didn't want the bottom to burn. I was cautious with my heat setting and it took about 7 minutes to get to a boil. As soon as it boiled, I immediately turned off the heat and let the mixture infuse for 20 minutes.

While that mixture sat, I separated my eggs. This recipe, like most ice creams only calls for the yolks. That doesn't mean you should throw away your egg whites! There are so many things you can do with them. I chose to make some macaroons (see below) with mine.

Once separated, add sugar and whisk, whisk, whisk. The mixture becomes very creamy and will have a pretty light yellow color to it.

Set aside.

Put the mixture in a blender and blend.

The next step is the trickiest and could ruin the whole process. Temper your eggs. Add warm liquid to the sugary eggs a little at a time while whisking constantly. Adding too much too quick, not whisking, or having too hot liquid, will result in scrambled eggs. Which would be great if we weren't making ice cream. Once the eggs and cream mixture are fully whisked together, add the whole mixture back to the pot over low heat. Stir constantly. At this point, you're thickening the base. Stir constantly so it doesn't scorch the bottom. You'll know it's ready when you can coat the back of a spatula or spoon with the mixture. For added reassurance, run your finger through the mixture on the back of the spoon that you coated, and if the track you made stays, it's plenty thick.

Once it's ready, it's not ready. Let the mixture cool down. You don't want to add super hot liquid to your ice cream maker. I let the mixture sit for about 15 minutes. It was in that time I made the macaroons that I'll talk about soon.

Once cool, I added the mixture to the ice cream maker and let it churn away. I allowed the mixture to churn for about 45-50 minutes. The consistency should be somewhat thick and creamy. If it's runny, keep churning. Don't forget that the base should be in the freezer until about 1 minute before you need to use it. If it's not frozen and super cold, it won't make ice cream. Once it was done churning, I put the mixture into these containers that I love and use for everything. Make sure you allow at least 12 hours to freeze.

While that churned, I decided to give this Coconut Macaroon recipe a try with the leftover egg whites I had. The recipe was super simple, and only required a wooden spoon and some elbow grease. These were delicious and gone by that night.

This recipe can be made from start to finish (minus preheating the oven) in about 22 minutes.

This is a good, go-to, easy, delicious recipe to have on hand, and deserves it's own blog post! Soon, promise.



Back to the ice cream. Here it is in all of it's glory. I won't lie to you. I have mixed feelings about it. It's immediately sharp in taste, but creamy, and then you get a hint of sweet. It's not as sweet as you normally imagine ice cream to be. I think next time I would strain the mixture to not have itty bitty pieces of basil throughout and maybe some sweetened condensed milk just to make it a tad sweeter.

Enjoy!

Albondiga Soup

So, I know it's summer.

It's hot.

And for most people, hot soup is the last thing they want on a hot day.

 

I'm not most people. I love soup. I could eat it every day, all day. My favorite soup, since I was a little girl, has been albondiga soup. It's a Mexican meatball soup filled with rice and veggies (the way I make it) and it is hearty and delicious and perfect any day of the year.

 

When I did my Sunday meal prep, I tried to make things I knew I could eat for a few days and not tire of. For me and the kid, this soup is it. It's relatively cheap to make too, the most costly ingredient being the protein.

Let's begin!

 

Start this recipe by putting a large pot of water to boil. To the water, add 8 ounces of tomato sauce (1 small can), 1 tomato bouillon cube, salt, pepper, dried oregano, cilantro (all to taste).

 

Ingredients for the meatball

Ground beef

Cilantro

Salt

Pepper

Cumin

Dried Oregano

Garlic Powder

Chili Powder

Hot Sauce

Egg

Pinch of uncooked rice

 

Note: I didn't include measurements, because it's really to taste. Want to cut salt? Leave it out. Don't like heat? Omit the hot sauce and chili powder. The taste of the meatballs can be accommodated to everyone's taste buds.

 

Note about protein: You can easily swap out ground beef for ground chicken or ground turkey. My favorite is ground chicken. It has incredible flavor, but I didn't have any, so I used ground beef.

 

Note about ground beef: try to go lean or you'll have a really oily, greasy soup. I like fat, but I found myself skimming the fat quite a bit in this 80/20 beef. I think 90/10 is pretty ideal. Also, if you're making this ahead, after the soup cools, put the entire pot in the fridge overnight and in the morning, the fat will have solidified and will be easy to remove. If you're eating right away, skim, skim, skim.

Now, add all ingredients to a large bowl and mix with your hands. Once mixed, let sit until your pot is ready to go. Once your water (broth?) in the pot, comes to a boil, lower the flame a bit, you want a gentle boil to cook the soup.

 

Roll your meatball and add to the pot, one at a time. I prefer the size of a golf ball or slightly smaller.

 

Let cook for about 10 minutes, and prep your veggies.

 

Veggies.

You can add any veggie that boils well. You can certainly add more veggies than  I do. Since I like the meatball to be the star of the soup, I only add three veggies: carrots, potatoes, and squash. You'll want to peel or wash your veggies before chopping. I peel the carrots, but leave the potato skin. You also want to add veggies into the soup based on their cook time.

 

Since carrots are denser, I add them first. I peel, and dice, season with salt and pepper. Add to pot. After about 5-7 minutes, I chop up the potatoes, slightly larger than I did the carrots, season with salt and pepper, and add them to the pot. After 5-7 minutes, I dice the squash. I also take out the middle of the squash, it tends to overcook and leave mushy bits throughout the soup. Season with salt and pepper, add to pot.

 

It's very important to season everything on it's own, no bland food here!

 

After 5 minutes, check to make sure all veggies are tender by sticking a fork in them.

 

It's important to know approximately how long it takes your veggies to cook. You don't want hard or overly cooked vegetables.

So after about 30-35 minutes (after your pot has come to a boil), your soup is ready. Not too bad, right?

 

Time to assemble.

 

Pick your bowl. Add some cooked rice. (I made rice in bulk on Sunday too, stay tuned for that blog post!) Ladle on your soup.

 

Add, to taste, lemon and/or hot sauce. I chose both.

 

Note about hot sauce: I like Cholula. It's not very hot, at all, but very flavorful. If you want spicy, choose a Tabasco or Tapatio, or even better, something homemade!

 

I made this recipe in bulk, enough for one nights dinner for me and the kids, and lunches throughout the week for me and the kid.



 

You might not think this is kid friendly fare, but I have found that kids LOVE meatballs. It's strange really, I haven't met a kid who doesn't. A soup like this is a great way to introduce veggies to kids who maybe are opposed to them. You can chop up the veggies and meatballs to small dices, so they can't differentiate what the veggies actually are. Dice the veggies small AFTER cooking, before serving, otherwise, if you make them that small to start with, they'll just turn to mush. My kid loves carrots and will eat them in any state of cooking. The other veggies, not so much. So, I leave the carrots regular size, and dice up the other veggies small, like I suggested earlier. He eats up the whole thing, and sometimes even asks for seconds!

Last note, but more of a tip. Notice my first picture, is the bowl of soup on top of a plate? My soup came out of the fridge today and needed to be heated up in a microwave. I like my soup HOT, temperature wise. Just microwaving the bowl of soup, would leave the bowl way too hot to handle. By heating up the bowl on top of a plate, the bowl and it's contents get hot, but the plate gets only slightly warm, making it easy to remove from the microwave and not burn your fingers.

 

Why? I have no idea, but it works.

 

Hope you enjoyed today's recipe and if you don't make it, hope you took away some tips or tricks.

 

Until next time!

Sunday Funday Bulk Meals

We have a pretty hectic week coming up.

 

My eldest starts 11th grade on Tuesday. Before we continue, can you hold me while I bawl my eyes out? She was 2 a second ago. Sniff. Not only is school starting, the hubby is going out of town for work for 3 days, which leaves me at home without his help.

 

Normally, it would have been so easy to just grab some take out, but with my trying this SAHM/Modern Homemaker thing out, I've realized that a big part of saving money is to make food at home. Not only make food, sometimes utilize one item in multiple ways.

 

So, due to the hectic week, the goal of saving money, and overall healthier choices, I made some bulk meals for the week.

 

I've decided to share with you the things I made, and touch upon them and give recipes throughout the week.

 

So here it is:

 

 

I boiled chicken thighs and made: 2 quarts of stock, dinner for Sunday, and a tray of enchiladas for the week.

 

I made a giant pot of albondiga (meatball) soup for 1 dinner during the week and lunches for me and the kid (4 yo).

 

I made 1.5 cups of rice, more than enough for 2 meals during the week and lunches.

 

Lastly, blueberry muffins. The eldest loves these muffins and they freeze well. I froze half, so she could grab one, heat it up, and eat on the way to school.

 

Stay tuned this week for more information!

 

Also, follow this blog on Instagram: _home_grown_basil_

 

Hope to see you there!

Easy Summer Salad

Before you say anything, I know... a blog post about salad?

Easy, you say? What's easier than a bagged salad and ready made dressing?

I get it. Really I do. There are some days where I tear up lettuce, add thousand island dressing and proclaim it as my salad. And that's ok. If that's how you like your salad, it's wonderful, I like it that way too.

But, if you're feeling fancy, or you want a change, or you're hosting a dinner party and want to impress, I cannot stress to you how delicious and easy this salad is. It's crispy, crunchy, chewy, soft, sweet, tangy - it has it all!

 

Ingredients

Spinach

Romaine Lettuce

Raspberries

Craisins

Slivered Almonds

 

Dressing

Canola Oil

Apple Cider Vinegar

Honey

 

I started this salad, by soaking my spinach. Spinach tends to be gritty and that's not something I want to eat, so I let the spinach soak for a minute, rinse it, and soak again. Let it soak while you prepare the rest. Grab a small pan and add your almonds. No oil, no spices, no nothing. You'll want to pay close attention so the almonds don't burn. Toasting the almonds deepens their flavor and makes them taste nuttier. They are delicious. They also burn easily (this is so important, I mentioned it twice). Move them around pretty constantly. I trust my nose to tell when they're done. If you're not comfortable using that method, look for them to be lightly toasted (light brown in color) or about 7-8 minutes if toasting on medium low.

The next thing I did was make my dressing. This was a lot of trial and error for me, and this is the combination that I liked the most. You can adjust the quantities based on the flavors you like most. Want it sweeter? Add more honey. Want it more tangy? Add more apple cider vinegar. Back to the trial and error. The husband and I went to a dinner last year and we had a spinach, strawberry, feta salad with a sweet, creamy dressing that I was obsessed with trying to recreate. And I never did. I can't quite get it, but that's ok, because in trying to make that, I have this simple fix. Ready for it? Add 1 teaspoon of each: canola oil, apple cider vinegar, honey. Mix. Done. It's sweet and slightly tangy and fantastic with fresh summer fruit.

Next, drain spinach. Rinse the spinach and your romaine lettuce. Spin to dry. I love our salad spinner and recommend it highly. Last thing you do is assemble. I toss the spinach and romaine with dressing in the bowl. I use about half of the dressing. Then top with the raspberries, craisins, and almonds.

 

Done.

 

A few notes: I didn't add quantities, because you could add as much or as little as you want. Really like raspberries? Add a bunch. I will say that half of the dressing was more than enough for about 2 cups of spinach and romaine.

I love this salad because you can mix and match fruits and nuts based on your taste or what's in season. Some ideas:

Almonds with blueberries or cherries.

Pecans with apples or peaches.

Walnuts with apples or pears.

 

 

Let me know if you make it and what combo you used.