Easy Restaurant-Style Blender Salsa

Last Friday I stopped by my sister Paula's house and she had just made salsa in her blender that was delicious. The bowl of salsa she put on the table with chips was quickly gone - luckily she had more in the fridge. She sent me the recipe and I tried it yesterday. I used 2 jalapeños and 3 key limes to get the right amount of lime juice. It is so simple to make and tastes much better than any store-bought salsa. It also tastes really good with Multigrain tortilla chips. Give it a try!

Update January 2023: I made two recipes of this today. I used 1 jalapeño in each recipe and 2 limes total gave me the perfect amount of lime juice for both recipes. One recipe fills a Ball Wide Mouth 1 quart/32 ounce Glass Canning Jar with a little bit left over (the perfect amount to eat right then!). 

Easy Restaurant-Style Blender Salsa

Recipe courtesy Averie Cooks Blog

1 28-ounce can whole, peeled plum tomatoes, including juice

1 small yellow onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 or 2 jalapeño peppers, de-stemmed and roughly chopped (remove seeds to greatly reduce heat level)

3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

1½ teaspoons ground cumin, or to taste

1½ teaspoons salt, or to taste (remember some brands of tomatoes and chips are much saltier than others)

¼ to 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, optional and to taste (balances the heat and tomato acidity; start with less and add more if necessary; careful not to over-sweeten)

1 or 2 handfuls cilantro leaves, discard stems

3 Tablespoons lime juice

Tortilla chips, for serving

Add all ingredients to the canister of a blender or food processor in the order listed. Pulse or blend on high power until texture is as smooth as desired.

Taste the salsa and tweak as necessary based on personal preference.

Transfer to airtight container and serve immediately with chips, or refrigerate salsa for 1 day prior to serving as the flavor improves on the second and third day. Salsa will likely keep up to 1 week airtight in the fridge.

Makes about 4 cups.

Photos from January 2023:

Pecan Sandies

A few days ago I made an Amish Sugar Cookie recipe with a few changes based on reviews I read, and decided to make them into Pecan Sandies the next day. These were delicious! I did not refrigerate the dough since I was not rolling these out, but you certainly can if you want to. This recipe was so simple to make, and took no time at all. I apologize for the iPhone photos, but I was in a hurry and didn't use my camera for this recipe.

Like most of the other cookie recipes I've made, one recipe fits perfectly in a 1-gallon rectangular container for easy freezing - just put plastic wrap in between the layers of cookies. These are a great price considering that you can use them over and over again. I just stocked up since I only had one container before. Now I have 5 containers full of cookies in my freezer that I will take out and put on trays on the day of the party.

If you like pecans and shortbread cookies, give this recipe a try. Pecan Sandies used to be the only kind of store-bought cookies I would eat. Now I won't be tempted to buy them any more!

Pecan Sandies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup Crisco

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups toasted pecans, finely chopped

To toast pecans, spread them in a baking pan and bake at 350° until golden brown, about 6-10 minutes, stirring often. Once cooled, chop them finely in a food processor.

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, Crisco and sugars. Beat in eggs until well blended. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in pecans. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours (optional).

Drop by small teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass, if desired, or push a pecan half into the center of the cookies before baking (optional).

Bake at 350° for 8-11 minutes or until lightly browned – do not overbake! Remove to wire racks to cool.

Yield: about 5 dozen.

 

Amish Sugar Cookies

A few days ago I was looking for different "drop cookie" recipes and came across an Amish Sugar Cookie recipe that intrigued me. I love sugar cookies, but sometimes refrigerating the dough, rolling it into balls and then rolling them in sugar is a little too time-consuming. This week I am making several types of cookies for my husband's deployment welcome home party, and was looking for simple recipes that I could make after work, so I decided to give this one a try!

I read a lot of reviews on this recipe and made some changes to the original one I found online. Some people said the cookies had a strange taste that could be from the oil and were greasy, so I decided to use Crisco in place of vegetable oil (you can also use butter-flavored Crisco but I did not have that). I use the Crisco baking sticks for baking now as they are much easier to use than measuring out Crisco. My powdered sugar was a bit lumpy so I sifted it. Some reviews said the cookies were bland, so I used more vanilla than called for (the recipe says 1 teaspoon but I used 2 teaspoons). Some reviews also suggested either substituting or adding other extracts - my personal preferences would be either lemon or almond. I added 1 teaspoon of almond extract in addition to the vanilla. I also added 1 teaspoon of salt to the recipe as some people said it was needed. The reviews said to be careful not to over-bake, so I baked these at 350° instead of 375° just to be safe, since my oven is a bit temperamental. After about 10 minutes I just watched them closely until they were done.

This dough is soft and can be refrigerated for easier handling, but since the dough is not being rolled that is not necessary. I refrigerated it overnight just so I could bake these right when I got home from work the next day.

Some reviewers suggested slightly flattening the cookies with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar (flatten the first cookie with the glass and then dip it in sugar so it sticks). Other reviewers simply sprinkled some sugar on top of the cookie dough. Since I was looking for an easy recipe, I baked them without doing anything additional - just used my small cookie scoop to make the same size cookies and stuck them in the oven! But when they came out they looked very plain, so I sprinkled a bit of sugar on top of each cookie. 

These are more of a crumbly cookie, similar to a shortbread, than a soft sugar cookie. To me that means adding pecans would turn these into delicious Pecan Sandies! See my next post for that recipe!

All in all, the cookies tasted good, but didn't look too great. I think I will stick to making rolled out sugar cookies for that reason if I am bringing them to a party and want them to look nice, but for just making and eating at home, this is a great recipe!

Amish Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup Crisco

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon lemon or almond extract (optional)

4½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, Crisco and sugars. Beat in eggs until well blended. Beat in vanilla and other desired extracts. Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours (optional).

Drop by small teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar, if desired.

Bake at 350° for 8-11 minutes or until lightly browned – do not overbake! Remove to wire racks to cool.

Yield: about 5 dozen.

NOTE: These make a crumbly cookie, not a soft sugar cookie.

To make these Pecan Sandies: Substitute 1 cup of granulated sugar with ½ cup granulated sugar and ½ cup packed brown sugar. Only use vanilla extract (no lemon or almond). Toast the whole pecans first for better flavor. Sir 2 cups finely chopped toasted pecans in to batter. Push a pecan half into the center of the cookies before baking (optional).