Salsa!

I have been wanting to make fresh salsa for a while now. I've tried before, but I can't ever seem to get the perfect combination of ingredients or techniques. Too much hassle. Too acidic. Too chunky. Too spicy. Spoils too fast. Too many cans...

So this time, I trusted the Pioneer Woman and her recipe for restaurant style salsa. Excellent decision! I felt a little like Goldilocks, because this is just right!!

I'll copy down the recipe for you, but please go back to her recipe and leave her some comment love if you try it!

Ingredients: 1 can of whole tomatoes, 2 cans of Rotel, 1/2 onion, 1 fresh jalapeno, 1 garlic clove, 1/4 to 1/2 cup cilantro, 1 Tbsp lime juice (or juice from half a lime), 1/4 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp sugar.

Basically, you just chop up the fresh ingredients, and dump them into the bowl of a (large!) food processor or blender along with the tomatoes and Rotel. Add the lime juice, salt, sugar, and cumin. Give it about 10-15 pulses. Refrigerate it for about an hour (or longer if you can stand it - the longer, the better). And there you have it - some of the best salsa you'll ever taste!

Just a quick note - this does make close to 2 1/2 quarts. Make sure you plan accordingly when putting it in your blender or food processor. My food processor only holds two cups and my blender holds 6 cups. I stirred everything by hand in a large Pyrex bowl first and blended it in two separate batches.

After it sits in the refrigerator to let the flavors blend together, you can then pour it into cute little jars and give them away to your fellow teachers or friends! ...  Or you could always park yourself on the couch with a giant bag of tortilla chips and devour it all! Either way, it's so good!

Our Valentine's

If you walk into any store around this time of year (really any time after New Year's Day), you will no doubt find everything redone in red and pink, with hearts all over. Eli and I are not so "lovey dovey" about it. As much as we appreciate having a national holiday dedicated to celebrating those you love, we feel like this is something we should be doing every day, not just once a year. That said, we still try and find simple ways to make Valentine's Day special.

Last year, we went on a date the weekend before Valentine's Day. This year we tried something different: Eli cooked an entire meal of my choice, and I baked a dessert of his choice. Sounds like a deal, right!

The delicious meal cooked by Eli himself: steak, cheesy garlic mashed potatoes, and fancy green beans. He even looked up a new way to cook steak - in the good ol' cast iron. Definitely one of the best steaks we've ever had.

From Eli's request, I made my first ever Chocolate Lava Cake. If you have never made one or eaten one, go to the Pioneer Woman's recipe right now and make it. Right now. It's that good! And make sure you follow all the directions. This cake is definitely worth making correctly.

Oh, and be sure to serve it hot with a couple scoops of Blue Bell!

After all of this wonderful food, our bellies were so full and grateful. Then we finished out the night by watching NCIS and snuggling on the couch. Another great low-key Valentine's Day celebration.

So how was your Valentine's Day? Did you do anything special or start a new tradition? We'd love to hear about it.