Fire and Ice

Picky eaters drive me crazy (ie:my son)! I don't even mind so much if someone does not like something if they will just try it and then make that decision. I like to cook with what some people (not me) might consider somewhat unusual ingredients. This usually means some spices that they are not familiar with or combinations of foods that your basic Southern/Americana cook would not typically use. Because of this, when I make a new dish I am often faced with the dilemma..."do I tell them what is in it?" With my children the answer is usually a no. My policy is make them taste first and then disclose. Friends and acquaintances on the other hand are a little trickier.
I will have to say that most of my friends have a pretty open mind about trying new things and now after a few times of trying my new creations they have come to know that for the most part my cooking ROCKS (hey when you got it Flaunt it)! It also does not hurt that I have a disproportionately large number of male friends most of whom are Firefighters that subscribe to the ... If it does not eat me first philosophy. I also think it helps that due to the military, a lot of them are not Southern born and raised.

Now, no offense to my friends (or anyone else) who are not Damn Yankees (like myself). I am not knocking Southern cooking. Lord knows that I love to eat it. But I am not that great at cooking it. ( I can't make good fried chicken to save my life). What I am getting at is there is a simplicity to the ingredients of Southern Cooking and some people who have eaten it all their lives are resistant to try things they are not familiar with.

On of my favorite things is to mix sweet and savory. Even I had trouble with that concept at first but once I tried it I was hooked. Now I look twice at those recipes with combinations that even I have some doubt about. I try to think about the ingredients separately and then use some blind faith.

Today's recipe was one that gave me pause. I love salsa! I have seen recipes for Watermelon salsa several times over the past few weeks. Now I make a fruit salsa all the time but it is definitely a sweet salsa and I make cinnamon tortilla chips with it. But this is a Savory Salsa with garlic and jalapenos. At first I was like, ehhhhh that really does not sound too good. But then after seeing it a couple of more times I was intrigued. I found several recipes on Recipezaar along with several other sites that I googled. There are many variations and I took what I liked best from them to come up with this one. I kept the name from the one I followed most closely because I thought it described it perfectly "FIRE AND ICE SALSA" The cool watermelon with the hot jalapenos is a surprising combination. I debated telling my friends what it was before they tasted it because quite honestly when you look at it you can't tell it is not tomatoes. But in the end I did and they tried it anyway. As is typical with something unusual, it got a slow start with people tentative about it but by the end of the evening the huge bowl was nearly gone. How could they have doubted me?

Fire and Ice Salsa

3 cups diced watermelon
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup diced green pepper
1/4 cup diced red pepper
1-2 jalapeno peppers finely diced (adjust to taste)
1-2 cloves garlic finely minced
1 TBS Balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup finely minced cilantro
2Tbs finely chopped mint leaves

Juice of 1 lime
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Cover refrigerate for at least 1 HR. Serve with tortilla chips. Also would be great over broiled fish. 24-48 hr. is about the extent of it's shelf life in the fridge but so far mine has not lasted that long anyway.

Note: Be careful with the jalapeno. The contrast of it with the watermelon makes it seem hotter. Error on the side of not enough to start with then you can add more according to your taste.

Caliente

Yesterday my friend Savanna and I went to Salsaritas for lunch. It was pretty good and the servings were GINORMOUS! The salsa had a pretty good little "bite" to it but it really got me craving some really good Pico de Gallo. I was going to make it last night but my neighborhood grocery store did not have any ripe avocados. So, before I came home from work tonight I stopped by the BEST store in Fayetteville where they always have GREAT produce. They of course DID have ripe avocados. They even had the black skinned ones that I like ( as opposed to the bright green ones that are harder even ripe). It is unusual for me to come home and cook after working 12 hours but I was REALLY craving this. Besides, it is not really cooking, just a lot of chopping. This recipe is totally simple and any of the ingredients can be adjusted to your particular taste. I like LOTS of cilantro in mine!

Pico de Gallo

3 ripe tomatoes

1 small red onion

Cilantro (about 1/2 of a bunch)

2-3 cloves of garlic

1-2 jalapenos

1 ripe avocado

juice of 2 limes

1tsp salt

Quarter tomatoes and gently squeeze to seed then dice to taste (depending on how chunky you like) dice onion and avocado, mince garlic. Finely chop jalapenos (the seeds and ribs are the hottest part of the pepper so if you want less heat scrape these out). Mix all ingredients in a bowl add salt and lime juice. Let stand for about 15 mins. I think a bowl of tortilla chips and a nice frosty Margarita would go just fabulously with this! It also is a great topping for fish. Personally I can eat the stuff by itself especially if you add some cooked shrimp to it. I almost forgot ..quite yummy over scrambled eggs! Did I mention I REALLY love Pico de

Confused Salsa

I was in the mood yesterday for some fruit salsa. My recipe was inspired by the recipe from "Pampered Chef" but of course I had to make it my own. It turned out pretty tasty so I took some with me while visiting a friend and between that and grazing on it everytime I passed the fridge yesterday, It was GONE before I went to bed last night. Low and behold my daughter liked it!!! My son's comment was that it was like picking up the wrong drink. Evidently his taste buds were confused by his eyes. He was thinking regular salsa That's ok ..he is easily confused. He said it was not bad but he did not eat any more. He said not to be offended. I told him I would never be offended by his opinion of anything I cook because has has NO TASTE! He was offended.
So, I decided that I would make some more . I tweaked it up a bit more today although I am not sure that the extra work of the cherries was worth the effort.
As a tribute to my son I will call this CONFUSED SALSA. I served it with cinamon tortilla chips I made by giving tortillas a light spritz of cooking spray, sprinkled on some cinamon and sugar then baked at 425 for about 8 mins turning over half way through. I am a big yogurt eater and I prefer to get vanilla yougurt and add my own fruit. I thought this would be really good in it.It would also be a nice filling for Crepes or topping on french toast or waffles.

Confused Salsa
1 pint of strawberries
2 Granny Smith apples

2 Kiwi

1 cup cherries
1 nectarine
2 oranges
3 TBS brown sugar
2 TBS dried Mint

Dice strawberries add brown sugar and mix. Peel and dice nectarines kiwi and apples add to mixture. Pit and chop cherries (optional). Zest one orange and add the juice of both oranges to mixture. Add Mint. Stir well. Cover and chill for at least 1/2 hour. Serve with Cinamon Tortilla
chips or as a topping for ice cream, french toast or yogurt.

Basily Good Idea

Some of you may have already heard me say that I like to add Pesto to my Ranch dressing and I will say again it is soooo Yummy. BUT...... I am trying to cut calories and fat these days so adding pesto with all that olive oil is not helping that (although olive oil is heart healthy ..still adds the calories) . I can't stand the taste of any "white" fat free stuff (mayo, ranch, sour cream , ect....) I will eat light versions of these but there is just something "off" tasting about the fat-free stuff. Catalina, French , thousand Island are all ok fat-free. Anyway, I digress. I love ranch on my salads but also for snacking with carrots, celery, cucumbers, radishes, ect... So, here is my latest experiment. I would not make more of this than you plan on using in a day or possibly two. I am not sure how well the basil will hold up in this for longer. Thinning the dressing out a little makes that 2TBS serving of dressing go a little farther without adding as many calories ( for dipping veggies you won't miss the thickness). The basil makes up for the flavor loss.

Light Creamy Basil Ranch Dressing
1/4 cup Light Ranch dressing
2 TBS skim milk
1-3 TBS Fresh basil leaves finely chopped
Mix together and let hang out for a half hour or so to give the basil time to permeate the dressing.