Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

We love chips and salsa. A lot.

We're Chipotle fans, and their medium Tomatillo-Green Chile Salsa is my favorite. I saw some tomatillos in the store the other night, and I've never tried doing anything with them before, so I decided to make some salsa! Chipotle has nothing to fear, but I think the results of my experiment were favorable. Here's what I came up with (amounts are approximated, since I don't really measure anything - I'm an eyeballer).

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

1 lb. tomatillos (they really vary in size, so I weighed them in the store), quartered
1 small red onion, sliced (I used 1/2 red onion, 1/2 sweet onion, since that's what I had on hand)
2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced (3 if they're smaller cloves)
2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and quartered (I used 3 - we like some heat)
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
juice of 1 lime
a splash of apple cider vinegar (1 tsp.?)
2-3 tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tsp. ground cumin
sea salt (to taste)
fresh ground pepper (to taste)

I preheated my oven to 350 degrees, and put the tomatillos, onions, garlic and jalapenos on a baking sheet. I seasoned with some salt and pepper, and misted everything with some olive oil. Then I roasted them, maybe 30 minutes, but I sort of just kept going until they looked like what I wanted - kind of broken down, and starting to caramelize, almost.

I scraped everything into my food processor bowl, then added the lime juice, cilantro, Romas, cumin and a little splash of apple cider vinegar, and pulsed until I liked the consistency. I let it sit in the fridge for a few hours, and then we tried it.....and, well, it's gone now. I think we'll be making it again!

Layered Mexican Trifle Salad

So this is awesome. It's a lot of work, but it is awesome. Feeds a crowd, looks cool, tastes great. What more can you ask for? I first had this at a party, and then tracked down the recipe - I believe it was originally from Pampered Chef. You can mix it up, but I really like this combo. It's easy to double or whatever is needed, based on the serving dish. The one pictured was MASSIVE, and was basically a triple batch - so much work, and at the last minute! Layered Mexican Trifle Salad I ngredients: Beans: drain, rinse and mix together 1 15 oz. can pinto beans and 1 15 oz. can black beans 1 15 oz. can whole kernel corn, drained (I've also used fresh) 1 large tomato, diced (I usually use several Roma tomatoes) 2 green bell peppers, diced 3 ripe avocadoes, diced and mashed with the juice of 1 lime and salt and pepper to taste 1 large onion, diced (red or white) 2 cups cooked chicken, diced or shredded 2 cups cheddar or jack cheese, shredded

Skillet Chicken, Broccoli, Ziti & Asiago Cheese

We ALL really love this recipe. This is based on a recipe from the good people at Cooks Illustrated - I am grateful to them for getting my kids to happily eat sundried tomatoes and broccoli! I've also made this in a huge batch and served it family-style for a dinner party (and got to use my giant Pampered Chef Simple Additions square pasta bowl (it's really big), and it was AWESOME). If people could have licked the bowl clean, they might have - there was NOTHING left. Try this, and love it: Chicken, Broccoli, Penne and Asiago Cheese Skillet 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch squares 2 tbsp. vegetable oil (or olive oil - just don't heat that to smoking) 1 medium onion, minced (about 1 cup) 3 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tbsp.) 1/4 tsp. dried oregano 1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes 8 oz. ziti or penne (2 /12 cups) 3 c. water 2 c. low-sodium chicken broth 3-4 c. broccoli florets 1/4 c. sun-dried tomatoes in oil, rinsed and choppe

Another Take on Comfort Food

Sometimes there's nothing you can do but cook. I've had the displeasure of seeing 2 young moms in our school community recieve cancer diagnoses in the last 18 months. If you're like me, when someone you know is hurting, you want to help, but lots of times, there's not much you can do. If you can cook, you can take away some of the stress of getting the family fed and bring a meal or two. In fact, even if you can't cook, you can pick up a meal at a restaurant or a bag of groceries, or even a gift card for a local restaurant. I think it comes naturally to some - the church and school communities I grew up in always loved with food - church potlucks, school spaghetti dinners, and of course lots of meals for people who needed them. But not everyone has done this before, so it might be overwhelming. As in my "feeding a crowd" blurb, there are a few things to keep in mind. Don't try to impress - don't try new recipes. Find out if you're

A Cooking Baker

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