Tropical Salsa

Barry and I love salsa. LOVE. Salsa is serious business at our house. Sure, we use the canned stuff but we like homemade the best. And it needs to be hot. If your nose isn’t running, it’s not hot enough. Making your own salsa is so easy! So, take a trip with me and let’s make some shall we?

To make this particular salsa, you need some type of fruit, cucumber, red onion, cilantro, garlic powder, salt, sugar, jalapenos, and lime juice. This would probably taste better if you used fresh pineapple, but this is what I had. Why is this what I had? Because fresh pineapples were expensive, this was on sale, and I had a coupon. Canned fruit it is! Don’t leave the cilantro out of your salsa. People, I’m in love with cilantro. I’m leaving it in my will.  It makes your food taste gourmet! And talk about cheap! You can get a batch of fresh cilantro in the produce section for about $.50. Now, that floats my boat. You could also use fresh garlic, but I didn’t feel like getting it out and peeling it. Annie was taking a nap so my time was limited.

You’re going to want to chop up everything really good for this salsa. It needs to fit on your chip. If it’s too chunky it falls off your chip and into your lap, ruining your outfit for the day. You don’t really want to iron another outfit do you? So listen to me, because I know what I’m talking about. I’ve ruined plenty of outfits for the day. I’ve done it so much that now I just wear it around all day anyway and imagine that no one notices. This is my Slap Chop. A fantastic cousin gave it to me. I love her forever for this gift. Slap Chops rock! Sure, it’s one of those things on infomercials and you think infomercials are all too good to be true. This one is not. Call right now and you can get two for the price of one and a knife that will cut through your entertainment center! Slap Chop will change your life.

It chopped up all my ingredients very nicely, see? I love you Slap Chop.

This is a nice recipe because you don’t need a separate serving and mixing bowl. You just mix it up in what you’re going to serve it in……but make sure it has a lid so you can put it in the fridge.  Dump all your stuff in your mixing bowl, adding the salt, sugar, garlic powder, and lime juice. I didn’t use lime juice because I had a EUREKA moment. I just lobbed in some of the juice that was out of my fruit jar. I’m a genius, what can I say? Anyway, mix it all together and let it set in the fridge for a little while to let the flavors mingle. You can’t store it for too long because the cilantro will get all slimy and brown. Whew. Even Dottie won’t eat it then. But it shouldn’t last for too long anyway because it tastes delicious!

You can serve it with chips or it would be great on top of grilled chicken or pork. Or you could just do like me and eat it by the spoonful. I eat lots of things by the spoonful…….but that’s another story.

Enjoy!

Print Recipe

Tropical Salsa

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups finely chopped pineapple or whatever tropical fruit floats your boat
• 1 cup finely chopped seedless cucumber
• ¼ cup lime juice or fruit juice from the can
• ¼ cup finely chopped red onion
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
• 4 teaspoons or more, seeded and chopped jalapeno pepper
• 1 garlic clove minced (or ½ teaspoon garlic powder)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

• In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Cover and refrigerate until serving.