Fire-Roasted Salsa

I am obsessed with salsa.  I love it on everything—Mexican food, eggs, salad, grilled meats.  I love loading tortilla chips with so much salsa that bits of it fall off my chip before it even makes its way to my mouth!  I could just eat an entire bowl of salsa!  

I spent last night making a batch of homemade salsa because it was just one of those nights when I was craving chips and salsa for dinner.  Homemade salsa is so much better than the pre-made stuff you can get at the store.  My recipe below is pretty easy.  You can make a batch to eat immediately or jar it and save it for later in the fridge.  Warning: wash your hands thoroughly after touching the jalapeno peppers!  I accidentally touched my mouth afterwards and my lips burned for awhile!

Fire-Roasted Salsa - Mild (makes about 30oz)

Ingredients:

·      6 medium size tomatoes (6 Roma tomatoes, tomatoes on the vine are okay too), sliced into chunks

·      2 jalapeno peppers, sliced in half length-wise, deseeded and sliced

·      ½ sweet yellow onion, cut into chunks

·      1 cup of cilantro, coarsely chopped

·      3 garlic cloves, cut in half

·      1 lime (approx. 2-2.5 tbsp juice)

·      2 tsp salt

·      1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

·      ½ tsp chili powder (more if you prefer spicier)

Directions:

1.)  Preheat oven for 15 minutes.  Set on broil.

2.) Cut Roma tomatoes in half length-wise, lay face up on a baking sheet. Add de-stemmed and deseeded jalapeno peppers, onion chunks, and garlic onto the same baking sheet. Broil for about 30 minutes. You may need to remove the garlic sooner to avoid burning. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes. 

3.)  In a food processor, blend the tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, onion, cilantro, and garlic thoroughly.

4.)  Pour the mixture into a bowl. Squeeze all of the juice from 1 lime into the bowl. Add salt, black pepper, and chili powder.  Stir thoroughly. Eat immediately or jar the salsa (refrigerate or freeze) to save for later!