Salsa

This is an excellent recipe. Very tasty and fresh. Salsa from the store has become rather pale in comparison to the salsa made from our garden. Thank you to my friend for sharing this wonderful recipe (and your backyard!) with me . All of the comments in this recipe are from her as she explained what to do. She's amazing at eyeballing and improvising food. Her big thing with the salsa was variety.

You can add cumin to this. My friend and I were visiting one of her friends who had done this. It was described as having a bit of a smokey flavor. I didn't love it as much as this recipe, but it wasn't bad either. So, if you have a thing for cumin, you might want to try adding it in.

For my Japan friends: If you don't have banana peppers, don't worry. Just use some shishitos. Jalapenos were harder to find if I remember, so research some hot Japanese or chinese peppers. You could probably use shishitos in lieu of jalapenos, but then you won't have any kick whatsoever. I believe the name of the store I got my bottled jalapenos at was Pu-ro. They have some really good prices there and I think that's where I got my cheap shredded mozarella. Good memories.

Anyway, if you can find a fresh, hot version of an Asian pepper, that'll probably be best. Also, I can't for the life of me remember if cilantro is available to you. If it is, you can make this without too much trouble. If not, then please post and let me know so I remove the tag. Thanks.

Salsa o' Doom

8 tomatoes (I used a combination of Beefsteak, Roma, and Celebrities I believe, but any will do)

6 jalapenos. Half with the seeds, half without*

1 banana pepper (no seeds)

1 bell pepper (no seeds) (I used green but I prefer yellow for the color)**

1 medium onion

2 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Juice from 2 limes

Salt to taste (this baby is loaded with sodium)

Directions:

1. Dice 5 tomatoes.
2. Dice the onion and cilantro.
3. Everything else including 3 tomatoes were chopped in my mini food processor but can be hand chopped.
4. Mix all ingredients and add salt to taste.

* If you decide you want it hotter, keep the seeds.
** Japan friends, use yellow. They're sweeter, and I noticed my Japan green bell peppers were different from the States.