Delicious Carcinogens

Sometimes my mind can stray from baby loss for like .003 seconds... and that's when I think about food. Haha.

I subscribe to Everyday Food magazine. When I see a recipe, I tear it out and stick it in a completely unorganized folder. The kind that takes you 10 minutes to thumb through because you know the recipe you're looking for is in there, it's just clearly hiding from you.

This one actually made it to the cooking station.

I found an amazing deal on tomatoes and onions and knew this would need to be made immediately. Like, $1.50 total for 8 tomatoes, 2 fresh jalapenos, and 6 Vidalia onions, good deal.

I like to buy the cheaper tomatoes when making salsa-- aka Roma. Honestly, I don't know much about being a tomato snob, though I do think heirloom taste incredible. But beyond that, Roma are always cheaper and they're perfect for salsa because they have less "guts" to dispose of. Depending on the type of salsa I'm making, I choose whether the watery seeds/etc. should be discarded or kept. For this recipe, we kept them. It also makes it a world easier! Plus, I'm convinced that since Roma are small with less inside, the surface area is a greater ratio (any math peeps want to disagree?!) thus giving me more of the part I want in a salsa.

Lots of thought into this, really. Haha. If the above recipe is too difficult, here's the breakdown.

1. Buy, wash veggies. I used 6 Roma tomatoes, 1 large Vidalia onion and two fresh jalapenos. The recipe calls for fresh garlic but I always used the jarred, pureed stuff from TJ's.
2. Cut onion in half and place all veggies on your crummiest baking sheet.
3. Broil for about 15 minutes-- just keep checking to ensure the carcinogens charring can be seen well. This makes the "roasted" part of the salsa. I took out the jalapenos early as they charred quickly
4. Put all veggies in a large food processor (with garlic, a little lime juice, salt and pepper) and pulse until desired consistency is achieved.
5. Refrigerate. Hot salsa = no bueno, especially when it is 96 degrees outside. But don't worry... it was 96 for 3 days straight and now we're on a 2 day chill around 50 degrees! Chicago is super confusing.
6. Add chopped cilantro to your liking and enjoy by eating it with a spoon.

Here's the end result... also resulting in a terrible photo. 

 {Just get out your stupid fancy camera, right Brandy? I know, I know.}

I made some impromptu quesadillas a few minutes ago and slabbed about 1/4 cup onto each one. Mmm. Cancer. But in doing some research, it turns out roasting/broiling/grilling veggies is significantly less dangerous and unhealthy than grilling meats. Whatever makes me sleep at night. Ha.