Healthilicious: PW's Restaurant Style Salsa

First and foremost, Lynns and I kind of have an obsession with Pioneer Woman (PW, P-Dub). Now that we have our own blog we are totally on our way to PW status. All we need is a ranch and the patience to homeschool our kids.

Anyway, salsa is a staple in our house- we use it all. the. time. Which means on almost every grocery trip I buy a couple jars of Aunt Mabel's salsa. I never thought about making my own until I saw PW's recipe in her latest cookbook . The recipe is so simple and I can make it the way I like it... pureeing the heck out of it until it looks like soup. Err... salsa. I have an issue with chunky salsa; we're definitely not BFF's.

Salsa from a jar is not the worst thing out there that you can buy, but anything in a jar obviously has added ingredients to keep it shelf stable. I keep it in my pantry and if I get a chance to make it fresh, I do! Then I use the heck out of it and proclaim "salsa week" at our house. 

Restaurant-Style Salsa (from page 92 of The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier)

• One 28-ounce can whole tomatoes with juice
• Two 10-ounce cans Rotel diced tomatoes and green chilies
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 jalapeno
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• Juice of half a lime
• 1/2 cup cilantro (more to taste!)

Into a food processor or blender, add the tomatoes with their juice, the rotel (or fresh diced chilies and tomatoes) and the onion. Quarter the jalapeno lengthwise, then slice it thinly. Add jalapeno and garlic to the mix. Next, add the sugar, salt, and cumin, lime juice, and cilantro. Pulse several times until it reaches the consistency you like. Serve with chips, enchiladas, tacos, or use in a dip! 

*Want to cut the junk? Use fresh tomatoes (whole and diced), and green chilies. It will cut down on sodium content and eliminate any preservatives found in the canned versions!