Showing posts with label healthy cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healthy cooking. Show all posts

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Fire Roasted Corn Salsa


On Cinco de Mayo this year, I was craving a predominantly corn salsa to go with our taco bar. Let me tell you what--I have burned my poor husband out on shredded chicken barbeque tacos (I'll post a recipe for that another time) just to eat with the corn salsa since! It adds the perfect touch to tacos and salads. Hope ya'll enjoy it as much as we have :)




Ingredients:

5 ears of corn (I love the bi-color)
2-4 tablespoons of diced red onion
1 jalapeno pepper
1 poblano pepper
Juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro
2 teaspoons sugar (omit this if you'd like a healthier option. I just like the balance it gives the lime)
approx 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
salt
pepper
garlic and onion powder
aluminum foil




Prep your corn and fire up the grill!

After prepping your corn, lightly butter it and place on a sheet of aluminum foil large enough to wrap the corn securely in. Before wrapping, salt, pepper, and lightly sprinkle garlic and onion powder onto the corn.



Wrap up the corn and peppers (no seasonings) and roast on the grill. I always put the peppers around the outside of the grill and use about a medium heat; roasting for a hour, or until the corn is tender. When I have the time, I like to use a low heat and let the corn roast for a few hours. But be careful because too long and you'll lose the crisp and get a gummy texture. 

Let the corn cool enough to handle it and then cut it off the cob.

When you open the foil with the pepper, you're gonna find a couple withered up green mushy things. That's normal, I promise ;)


When I don't have gloves handy for the kitchen--which let's face it, that's never--I use the veggie bag I put the pepper in at the store and wrap it around my hand for protection against the heat. Or at least that's what I should do most of the time. It's a wonder I haven't put my own eyes out yet! 

Deseed the peppers. I like a little bit of spice, but I don't like my salsa so hot that my nose runs into my food, so for this amount of corn I use half the jalapeno and 1/3 of the poblano. To make it easier, I just stack one on the other and mince.


You'll end up with a big jarbled up mess that looks something like this:


Add peppers to the corn along with the diced onion (I start with 2 Tablespoons and add more, depending on my mood), chopped cilantro, sugar. Stir together well. Cut a lime in half and squeeze juice into the salsa and stir again. Will keep my refrigeration for about 2 weeks. I like to leave my lime in the salsa for about a week and then toss it out. 



Enjoy!








Sunday, January 29, 2012

I'm NOT crazy! :)

Back in December, my husband and I made a very big purchase for our home. More specifically, for our kitchen. Even more specifically, it was cookware. If you have read any of my other posts, or know me personally, you already know what it was: A very popular brand of Titanium cookware. The pros: lifetime guarantee, much healthier cooking with low heat (retains most of the nutrients of your food), which leads into using less food thanks to a more nutrient dense meal, waterless/greaseless/oiless cooking (no added fat in your food, no water leaching vitamins/minerals from your veggies and fruits), every piece is dishwasher safe, every piece is oven safe up to 350 degree and if I want to cook above that I just remove the plastic handles, the ease of cleanup is unbelievable (stuck on food comes right off), and possibly the best part is the speed (tonight I cooked a FROZEN 2 lb roast with veggies that was fork tender and absolutely delicious in less than 3 hours). So you can probably see why it's worth the con. Yes, the CON, as in singular. The only negative is the cost. For all the pieces we purchased (and we got a few freebies) we paid...take a breath...$4200.00.

Why am I telling you this? Because, the way I see it, I invest in a new set of pots in pan set every couple of years anyway and spend close to 300 dollars. I also told my husband that just in the amount of money I could save in groceries every week (thanks to the food savings), I could make the money back! So that's what my Sunday is going to be...a journey to getting back $4200.00. Plan coming next Sunday....

And if anyone else uses titanium cookware, feel free to back me up on this one in the comment box below! Or if you have an awesome recipe you use in them, I'd love to hear about it!