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!

Gluten Free Cheez-Its

Fourth post this week! Woohoo!

There are so many great gluten-free snacks out there these days (but watch out, some are not so great...). You can find everything from chips and crackers, to oreos and even pretzels. But one snack that I grew up with and LOVED but have yet to find in a gluten-free version is a good cheese cracker, like Cheez-Its or Goldfish. So I did a simple Pinterest search for a gluten free Cheez-It. Surprisingly, I had no luck. Then I turned to the ever-trusty Google. Everyone out there has their own recipe for these! I've seen recipes before from GF in the City and wanted to try them, so I decided to trust her recipe for Cheez-Its, or "Cheez Bits", as she calls them.

Wow is all I can say!! I am so glad I found this recipe! Forget waiting for gluten free cheese crackers to show up in the store. Just make a batch of these little cuties. And it's really so simple, just blend all the ingredients together in a food processor, chill the dough, roll it out, cut and bake. Yes I got cute with them and made them look like classic Cheez-Its by marking the edges with a fork and poking a hole in the middle with a toothpick. But hey, if I can't have the real thing, I might as well make them look good!

*edit: on the first batch, I didn't actually mark the sides and poke the hole... Eli did. And I am so thankful that he supports me even when I get on crazy tangents like making gluten free crackers. I love you, Eli!

After eating these all afternoon, we have decided that they taste as close to the real thing as you can possibly get. Yes, they are that good! The texture is a little cake-ier, but overall you couldn't get any better and still gluten free!

Cheez Bits
Makes 15 dozen crackers

½ cup sweet rice flour 
½ cup tapioca flour

¼ teaspoon xanthan gum
½ teaspoon Kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling
8 oz (1 cup) grated sharp cheddar cheese
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced
3 tablespoons cold water 

  

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.

Place the flours, xanthan gum, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine.

Add the cheese and butter to the flour mixture and pulse until it resembles a coarse meal. Add the water, one tablespoon at a time, and pulse until the dough comes together into a ball. Divide the dough in two (it’s easier to work with in smaller batches) and shape into discs. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

Place a piece of parchment paper on a work surface. Remove one disc of dough from the refrigerator and roll out to 1/8-inch thick. If making squares, trim off the jagged edges of dough and use a serrated knife or pizza cutter to make vertical slices 1-inch apart. Then, make horizontal slices 1-inch apart to create the squares. If you want, use the tines of a fork to crimp the edges of the crackers and a toothpick to create a hole in the center. You could also cut out desired shapes using small cookie cutters. Transfer cut crackers to the prepared baking sheet, spacing them at least half an inch apart. 

Gather the remaining scraps of dough, re-roll, and cut additional crackers. If the dough has gotten very warm, re-wrap the scraps and place in the refrigerator for a few minutes to chill. Continue rolling and cutting until all the dough has been used. Sprinkle the cut squares with Kosher salt before baking, if desired.

Bake the crackers for 10-15 minutes, until the edges are golden. Allow to cool before eating.

While best on the first day, the finished crackers may be stored in an airtight container for several days. Because of their high cheese content and lack of preservatives to help them along, they can tend to get a little stale. They still taste great, though, and if you give them a couple minutes in a 250-degree oven, they should crisp right back up for you.


 
I guess if you non-gluten free people wanted, you could make your own with regular flour. But then you could also buy a box and have the same taste! This will be a snack I make over and over again, no doubt about it!

Soft Caramel Popcorn

There have been so many times I have made dinner or a dessert and I've wanted to put pictures and a recipe up on the blog. But my pictures just haven't been great, so I always put it off. Now that time is over, thanks to my new camera!

This popcorn is so soft, gooey, and addicting! And since it's so gooey, once you grab a handful...you're committed! The bad part is, it makes a lot. Better watch out if you're watching a movie and not paying attention, you'll eat the whole bowl before you know it! (At least that's what we did!)

 The original recipe says that a good heavy saucepan and a high quality rubber spatula really make a difference when making this recipe.

Soft Caramel Popcorn

3 bags microwave popcorn, popped

½ cup (1 stick) butter

1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Pop popcorn according to package directions and make sure you get rid of any unpopped kernels. We prefer the movie theater popcorn, but it’s good with really any kind of popcorn. This seems like a lot of popcorn (and it is!) but trust me, it will get eaten! Place popcorn in a large bowl… larger that you think you will need.

In a large saucepan, melt together the butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup. Bring mixture to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, reduce to low/medium heat and add the can of sweetened condensed milk. With the rubber spatula, stir constantly for 5 minutes scraping the sides and especially the bottom of the pan to prevent any burning. The longer you cook it, the firmer the caramel will be. I like to cook it right around 5 minutes, so it’s still a little soft.

Pour caramel over popcorn and stir until it's coated. This will take a lot of stirring to get it all incorporated.

It's great warm or at room temperature. Feel free to add M&Ms, nuts, or drizzle it with chocolate. For an extra treat, grind coarse salt over the top while it's still hot to make a salted caramel treat. This is our favorite way, and oh so classic. Enjoy!

When we made it, I used all the popcorn, but not quite all the caramel. So we saved the extra for a special ice cream treat one of these days! Mmm, so good! Or you could also make soft, formed caramels, pressed into a pan lined with parchment paper - We are trying some like this too. They are in the fridge right now, firming up. We'll see how they turn out and I'll let you know!