RECIPE: Game Day Salsa and Guacamole Dip

According to my husband, there's been a lot of good football on today, which is something I consider a bit of an oxymoron, as I don't understand how the words "good" and "football" work together, like, at all.

But anyway, he's been very happy today and so have I. I've been fiddling around in the kitchen with two new and very inexpensive but delicious recipes that have made Game Day very festive and fun.

I found the two original recipes on Allrecipes.com and Recipezaar.com and then worked with them until I found what suited our taste.



The first is for homemade salsa. The thing I like about it is that you can make a very nice winter version of this recipe using tiny-dice or pureed canned tomatoes (unless you live someplace where tomatoes are ripe off the vine right now out in your yard, and in that case, just hush yourself -- the rest of us don't need to be taunted with our sub-freezing temps that grow nothing but icicles) and regular canned peaches. You can substitute half of a very ripe large mango for the peaches, if you'd like. Or you can omit the peaches entirely, if you'd like, but I'll warn you -- you'll be missing something special. The peaches take down the insane heat of all those jalapeno peppers very nicely and add a slight hint of sweetness that also removes the extreme acidity from the tomatoes.


SPICY GAME DAY SALSA

2 cans tiny-dice tomatoes OR 2 cans tomato puree (substitute four medium-sized fresh tomatoes, deskinned by dropping them in boiling water for 30 seconds and then plunged into ice water for another 30 seconds; the skin will slip right off)

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

juice of one lime

3 fresh jalapeno peppers, finely chopped OR 1/3 cup of sliced jalapenos, finely chopped

2/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1/2 cup canned peaches, drained and chopped OR 1 medium very ripe fresh peach, deskinned (using manner above per tomatoes) and chopped

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

4 squirts Tobasco sauce


Mix all ingredients together in a medium sized mixing or serving bowl. Cover with cling film and chill in fridge for two hours or so to allow flavors to blend. Serve with tortilla chips, of course!

This makes such a nice, spicy salsa (cut down on the peppers if you don't have cast-iron stomachs like we do) and it is so inexpensive to make. This is good for people like us who do everything but use salsa as hand lotion and hair conditioner. We can eat one big jar of Pace salsa, which is nearly six dollars, in the space of one afternoon.


SPICY GAME DAY GUACAMOLE

I love guacamole so much, and it makes it even better that avocados are so good for you. Every time I eat one, I feel that my complexion is nicer, my hair shinier, my nails longer. Or maybe that's just an excuse to eat the entire bowl of guacamole? Hmm. Must think on this. While I do, here's the recipe:

3 large extremely ripe-to-the-point-of-squooshiness avocados (I like Haas; usually by the time the avocados are ripe enough to make guacamole the way I like it, they've been marked down sharply in the produce department)

juice from one lime

1 medium onion, chopped

1/4 cup tiny-dice canned tomatoes

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1 tablespoon jalapeno pepper juice (from jarred jalapenos)

1 teaspoon sea salt


Cut avocados in half, removing pit and scooping avocado meat into a medium mixing bowl. Mash avocado with a fork. Add lime juice and stir. Add remaining ingredients, stirring until well combined. Cover and refrigerate for one or two hours before serving to allow flavors to blend. Serve with tortilla chips or as a filler for tacos, burritos, etc.