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| Jim, JJ & Jordan at Orcas Island Pottery |
Hubby Jim is not only great with the grand kids, he's terrific in the kitchen and makes the best salsa ever. We eat it fresh in 1-2 days. We’ve given up the fattening corn chips as the dippers, and now use celery sticks, red pepper strips and cucumber slices, for dipping scoops. This salsa recipe is loaded with antioxidants, vitamin C and great tasting low calorie nutrition. It’s also good as a flavorful topper on egg dishes, salads, or a baked potato. If you must have chips, try making the low calorie, no fat alternative homemade, fresh baked pita chips recipe below.
Sassy Salsa
Finely chop the following ingredients:
2 cups tomatoes 1 cup onion
½ green bell pepper ½ cup cilantro
½ -1 jalapeno pepper (results in mild to hot)
1 large clove garlic
Add the fresh squeezed juice from:
½ lemon ½ lime
Salt to taste with 1tsp to 1 tbsp salt
Jim mixes all this together with a handy hand crank chopping device we picked up at the fair years ago. Hand chopping and mixing works great for this recipe. We learned to not use a blender to chop and mix the salsa as it pulverizes the ingredients into a runny mess that is only good to drink, but not good for dipping.
This is really popular at family and workplace gatherings. The fresher the ingredients, the better the taste and texture.
Fresh Baked Pita Chips
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut the whole pitas into 8 wedges. Separate the two layers of each pita. Place the 16 triangles in a single layer on a nonstick cookie sheet. Bake until crisp - about 9 or 10 minutes. This recipe serves 2 people, 8 pita chips each. They are perfect warm from the oven and heaped with fresh salsa. Half of a medium, 6-inch diameter Pita bread averages only 62 calories. Check the nutrition label on the pack you buy.
You can add seasoning variations to these by lightly spraying them with PAM and sprinkling with Italian seasonings, salt, garlic, or other favorite spices.
