Homemade Southwest Salsa and Tortilla Chips

I was going to reveal the project that I made for

our Son and DIL but we were unable to meet

up with them last weekend.

So instead, I thought that I would do a recipe post.

With the gardens coming on strong, and fresh

produce is everywhere, what do you do with

all that fresh goodness?

We in this household eat A LOT of fruits & vegetables.

We never have to worry about produce going bad here!

We eat a salad EVERY day, so every

Sunday I will make our salads and prepare our fruit for the week.
I have been doing this for YEARS!
By me preparing these ahead of time it is easy for Hubby and I
to just grab-n-go when we are heading off to work.
The big bonus is, we get our daily requirements
of fruits and vegetables!
We rarely buy anything out of the vending machines at work.

This is what our refrigerator looks like on Sundays.

Another thing that you can do with your fresh fruits and vegetables is
make salsa.  We LOVE salsa of any kind!

Salsas are SO EASY to make.  I will even make salsa in the wintertime
using frozen fruits and vegetables, along with Homemade Tortilla Chips.

Here is how I make my Southwest Salsa.

Chop up all of your vegetables and add to a bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients and give it a good stir.
Place into the refrigerator for a few hours to blend all the flavors together.
  I use this handy little chopper that I bought from
 Pampered Chef, it makes chopping quick.

Now lets make those easy tortilla chips!

These chips are WAY better than store bought chips.
These are perfect for dipping, unlike store bought
chip that break when you dip them, these don't, plus
these have SO MUCH more FLAVOR!
Hubby doesn't want me to buy store bought tortilla chips again,
they're that GOOD!

All you need are 3 simple ingredients.

This is the brand that I buy to make my chips.
I usually make the whole bag to yield a BIG bag of chips.
It really doesn't matter what brand of tortillas you use,
we just happen to like this brand.
Here is a close up of the tortillas I buy.

Lightly brush each tortilla with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

I brushed 4 tortillas and stacked them on top of each other.

Slice the stack of tortillas in half, and then in half again.

Place the tortilla chips in a single layer onto
a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper,
and lightly sprinkle with Sea Salt.

Place into a preheated oven set at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes,
or until lightly browned.  Remove from oven and let sit for 1 minute.

DIG IN!

SOUTHWEST SALSA

2 cups pineapple, chopped in small cubes

1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained (optional)

1/2 cup frozen sweet corn

1 cup tomatoes, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1/4 cup red onion, minced

1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

Salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mix all ingredients together in a large glass bowl.  Refrigerate for 2 hours to let juices combine together.

HOMEMADE TORTILLA CHIPS

1 package soft tortilla shells

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Sea Salt

Lightly brush each tortilla shell with EVOO.  Cut in half, and in half again.  Place the tortilla chip in a single layer on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Bake @ 350 for 10-12 minutes.

Once you make your own salsa and chips you won't want store bought again!

That's it for this week, hopefully next week I can show

you what I made for our Son and DIL.

Until Next Time,

Veronica