Southwestern Black Bean & Corn Salad

This is for Day 3 of 30 Days of Creativity and the theme is corn, so I chose to make a corn salad.  The recipe is based on this recipe at "Shannon Makes Stuff"; however I adapted it to use the full cans of corn, bean and tomatoes.

Recipe:

• 1 14-15 oz can whole kernel corn (drained)
• 1 14-15 oz can  black beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 14-15 oz can diced tomato
• 2 tablespoon jalapeno pepper, finely diced
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 4 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
• 4 tablespoons vinegar (original calls for white vinegar, I used balsamic vinegar)
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all items together and allow to set in the fridge to marinate for at least two hours.  Can be served as a side salad or as a salsa with chips.  It starts out with a clean fresh taste tomato and corn taste then there is a mild kick due to the jalapenos and chili powder.

CHILI'S COPYCAT SALSA

This recipe does taste very similar to Chili's restaurant salsa.  It is a very minimalist salsa with few ingredients and surprising mild for containing so many jalapenos.  The lime juice in it gives it a fresh zing when combines with the tomatoes and compliments spicy dishes.  It is also quick and easy - takes around 5 minutes.

  

Recipe posted by kimboleyanne at Food.com  
 

Makes 6-8 servings  - original recipe Read more: here 

• 1 can (14 1/2-15 oz) diced canned tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons diced jalapenos (I used 2 fresh jalapenos)
• 1 TBSP lime juice 
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 cup onion, diced - I used 1 small onion

Chop the jalapenos in half, remove the seeds and dice.

Peel onion and dice into pieces.

I used the juice of half of a lime, but you could use bottled lime juice.

Put the above ingredients in a food processor along with the salt and cumin, then open the can of tomatoes.

Run on high speed until pureed,  but still a little chunky (around 1 minute).

Store any unused portion in a glass jar in the fridge for about a week.






 

Gingered Pork with Mushrooms

Great way to add a dash of flavor to lesser grades of pork.  

This got rave reviews when I served it and I have been requested to serve it again and my son, who is a very picky eater, said "don't change a thing!".  I served this with quick cook rice and 1 can of green beans.

I had purchased a pound of pork that was cut into cubes at a deep discount (was under $2) which I assume was leftover pieces for a stew of sorts and went in search on the web of ideas on how to use it when I came across this recipe at Recipezaar http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Pork-Chops-Yum-Yum-95222.  I didn't have all of the ingredients that it called for but I decided to give it a try, so I adapted it into the following:

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of pork (may work with other meats as well)
• Non-stick cooking spray
• 8 oz mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon salsa or ketchup
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and if you use fresh mushrooms slice into pieces (I used button mushrooms and  sliced mine vertically).

To make sauce, mix the honey, soy sauce, salsa or ketchup, ginger and garlic salt in a small container or bowl.

Use non-stick cooking spray to saute the pork and the mushrooms over medium high heat for 8-12 mins or until the meat is fully cooked.

Spray a casserole dish or 9X9 in pan with non-stick cooking spray then put in sauteed meat and mushroom and pour sauce over them and toss to coat all the pieces, then bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Don Pablos Copycat Salsa

Tasted just like they serve at Don Pablos restaurant.

We used to have a Don Pablos restaurant in town and we used to go there all the time.  Sadly, it closed a few years ago, but I was excited to find this recipe for a copycat version http://www.recipezaar.com/Copycat-Don-Pablos-Salsa-130690

It was super easy to make and only took a few minutes to make.  I used a food processor and it worked, but I would recommend using a blender instead if you have as it completely filled the food processor and was messy to mix and to pour into containers - if you use a food processor you might want to cut the recipe in half.

The cost was minimal - I estimate I spent less than $3 and ended up with two large jars that had previously housed 32 liquid oz of Walmart salsa.

When tomatoes are in season, I will use fresh instead of canned

Food processor or blender

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes, drained     (Approx.  3 1/4 cups fresh diced tomatoes)
1/2 cup onion (1 small or 1/2 medium)
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup cilantro
1/2-1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar

2 jalapeno peppers (optional)

1 14-15 oz can diced tomatoes (Approx. 2 cups fresh diced tomatoes)

Remove seeds and chop jalepenos.  You may want to use plastic gloves if they are very hot.

Chop onion

Put 1/2 cup of  the diced tomato into the food processor or blender and puree.  Once pureed, add all of the ingredients except the last can of tomatos and pulse until blended

Add the last can of tomatos and pulse until mixed.  Pour into sterilized jars.

TOMATO & ONION SALSA

This recipe was inspirted by this post by at CO+K by Chelesa M. http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/best_salsa_ever This was super-easy with using the food processor to chop everything up. I varied my receipe slightly and used the following and it is more of an tomato and onion salsa than just tomato based and it was very mild. 1 can Rotel Tomatoes with Jalepenos 1 can Tomato Sauce 1 fresh tomato 3 cloves garlic 1 1/2 med. sized yellow onions 2 Tsp. Mexican Seasoning 1 TBSP lime juice 4 dashes Seasoned salt 1 handful of Cilantro