Chili’s Copy Cat Salsa

I had lots of garden tomatoes and peppers to use, so I was looking for a great salsa recipe. Olivia, who posts on here quite often, recommended this one and it is AWESOME!! Especially since I’ve always been a huge fan of Chili’s salsa… not so much the rest of their menu.

Super easy and makes a ton… so stock up on your favorite chips and make it a Mexican week for your menu so you don’t have to throw any away!

Enjoy!

 

Ingredients:

2 cans (14.5 oz each) whole tomatoes, drained

3-4 canned, whole jalapenos

1 yellow onion, quartered

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons lime juice

Directions:

Place all of the ingredients together into a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Serve with tortilla chips.

Tips from a Kitchen of Reality:

- I used fresh tomatoes instead of canned. Threw a close guess for the amount it called for in cans into the blender because I was too lazy to chop and go for an exact measurement. Turned out fine.

- While I know that Chili’s salsa is chopped very fine… I tend to like a little chunk to mine, so be careful in your blending.

- Also, not all peppers are alike. So add them one at a time and taste between. I like spicy so I used 6 or 7.

 

***Original recipe from http://www.sixsistersstuff.com***

Salted Caramel Butter Bars

Salted Caramel is the “new” everything in the world of sweets it seems. I was looking for something new to make and decided to give it a whirl. These seemed easiest enough and if you like sweet and salty then you are going to LOVE these. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Crust:

- 1 lb salted butter, room temp

- 2 Tbsp vanilla

- 1 cup sugar

-1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

- 4 cups flour

Filling:
- 1 bag (14 oz.) caramel candies (about 50 individual caramels), unwrapped

- 1/3 cup milk or cream

- ½ teaspoon vanilla

- 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt (optional)

 

Directions:

Crust:

1. In mixer, beat butter and sugars until creamy.

2. Add vanilla, mix well. combined. 

3. Sift flour into the butter mixture and beat on low speed until a smooth soft dough forms.

4. Spray a 9×13 inch baking pan lightly with non-stick cooking spray. Press one-third of the dough evenly into the pan to form a bottom crust. Place the rest of the dough in fridge.

5. Bake at 325 until edges are a pale golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let cool about 15 minutes.

Filling:

1. Place the unwrapped caramels, cream, and vanilla in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Remove from the microwave and stir until smooth. If caramels are not completely melted, microwave on high for 30-second intervals, stirring after each interval, until smooth.

Final Assembly:

1. Pour the caramel filling over the crust. 

2. If you are going to salt the caramel sprinkle it on caramel layer now.

3. Remove the remaining chilled dough from the refrigerator and crumble it evenly over the caramel.

4. Return the pan to the oven and bake until the filling is bubbly and the crumbled shortbread topping is firm and lightly golden, about 25 – 30 minutes.

5. Let cool before cutting into squares.

Tips from a Kitchen of Reality:

- My dough never really got stiff—I think because I didn’t want to go to the store and buy butter. I used margarine instead and while the consistency wasn’t quite right, it baked up and tasted great.

- I only had EXTRA course sea salt… it was a bit salty if you got too much in one bite. Next time I will put it in a ziploc and give it a good whack or two with the meat mallet to make it a bit more fine.

***Recipe found at: www.cookiesandcups.com**

To Die For Shrimp

I laugh at my sister because anytime she wants a good recipe she types in “to die for” at the beginning of her internet search. I must say, it usually works out for her.

Now that we are at the coast I am getting braver with cooking different types of seafood and experimenting with plain old things like cooking shrimp. THIS is by far my FAVORITE simple shrimp recipe.

Try it… it’s to die for!!

Ingredients:

- 1 lb (or more) of fresh shrimp, peeled

- stick of butter, melted

- one or two lemons, sliced thinly

- Cajun seasoning

Directions:

- On a baking sheet, pour melted butter.

- Spread lemon slices over the butter.

- Then layer shrimp on top of lemon slices.

- Sprinkle with seasoning.

- Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Tips from a Kitchen of Reality:

- I used less butter—adjust as you see necessary for your amount of shrimp.

- The second time I made this I actually put the shrimp down first, seasoned it, and then topped with lemons and butter. It came out with a little more flavor this way.

- The original recipe called for Italian Seasoning but I like some spice—so we went Cajun. I’m sure the other way would be great too!