Homemade salsa, a wonderful way to get more flavor in your food with minimal effort! This recipe is a medium level on the spice scale but super easy to make!
Ingredients:
2 medium tomatoes
3 medium raw jalapeños
1 tsp minced garlic,
Sea Salt and pepper
1 medium onion
3 medium poblanos
Put all the raw ingredients in a medium pot on low heat with 2-3 cups of water. Simmer for about a hour until all the ingredients are tender. Turn off the heat and let cool for a bit, doesn’t need to be ice cold, just not boiling hot any longer.
Put contents of the pot in a blender, puree until it’s the consistency of your choice. I put the salsa into upcycled food jars (jars that previously held other things, like marinara sauce or olives, jar and lid thoroughly washed and dried before re-use).
Serve with chips, top on roast beef as a “marinade” or in any way you prefer. Great with a variety of dishes and sides.
It’s January in the northern hemisphere and baby, it’s cold outside! While I do live in South Carolina, the chill is even here, having snowed last week, the snow is melted but the cold remains. With the holidays now over and most of us wanting to cut back on expenses or curb spending, a homemade meal is an easy way to accomplish both, why not make something easy that also brings a bit of warmth to the body as well?
Ingredients and Instrutions:
1 pound of ground turkey or ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped up
Salt, Pepper, Chili powder, italian season blend
Cans of assorted beans
2 cans of diced or crushed tomatoes
Brown the ground meat, dump in the cans of everything, add spices to your strength preference. simmer for 45 minutes. Enjoy! Adding a dollop of sour cream on top or shredded cheese is also delicious.
Who knew that going to the beach in January could be so much fun!
As per their annual tradition, my parents made their winter road-trip across the country, stopping in South Carolina after the New Year to visit their daughters (my sister and I live relatively close together, within an easy commute of each other), Papa (my mother’s father) and of course, my brother-in-law and to meet my Sweetness (he lives close, too!)
So what do we do? We spontaneously decide to hit the coast while playing games over a family dinner Thursday night and we left promptly Saturday Morning!
Along the drive to Beaufort, the place we decided to stay for the night, the Spanish Moss indicated how close we were approaching the ocean, with every mile, it became thicker, creating a mystical “fog”, draping from the trees, power lines, and every place it could position itself, with all of its silver-miller and mossy green and grey hues.
We easily checked into our hotel and enjoyed the recommendation of the hotel concierge by dining at a local restaurant called “Dockside”–and it was lovely atmosphere and good food, especially the raw oysters! Nothing like a good local meal to finish off the drive there.
Sunday Morning, after we had breakfast at the hotel and checked out, we drove over the bridges, across Lady’s Island, through Port Royal and headed to Hunting Beach, on the Atlantic Coast, and enjoyed a heavy day of finding seashells and enjoying the surf and feeding the birds, generally enjoying each other’s company, with laughter as I donned my swimming suit and my mother wrapped up as she felt chilled…but all laughter and fun as we fed the birds and just enjoyed the day.
A late lunch at Port Royal, much later in the day, at the Fish Camp was a great way to wrap things up. While waiting outside for a brief moment, enjoying looking at the ships with all their riggings, I spotted a dolphin breach and play in the firth. What a lucky and fortunate spotting!!! Alas, I wasn’t fast enough with my camera to capture the beautiful dolphin, but it did smile at me when it came up!
My parents, Papa, and Sweetness enjoying the sand and surf
While the holiday may be over, a winter wonderland is still something beautiful to behold. While living here in the lovely state of South Carolina, snow, true snow (not a powdered sugar dusting) is a rare event…and something to be cherished for sure.
While it’s true that I grew up in Colorado, living there sporadically through my adult life, I greatly missed experiencing true snow days (which I greatly underappreciated when I was in my teens, taking the break for granted.)
Technology and forecasting predicted the snow, which is a new-age perk, allowing those in the affected area to be able to prepare for inclement weather, which is a blessing on many fronts (pun intended). Forecasted fun and adventures, though, when there is a white out? Naturally!
Adventures at home are a true joy–a stay-vacation! While there is always a list of things to be done, a snow balling accumulation of chores to be done, projects to be finished (or begun), sidewalks to be scooped, animals to feed, etc.
The forecast allowed my Sweetheart and I to clean out and re-line his chicken coop with fresh straw before the storm hit, preventing chaos and worry about the health and well-being of his flock, avoiding the need to go out in the snow and icy roads to retrieve much needed items for the animals and house (and finding a place that is open)–like with any good adventure, a bit of pre-prep work is essential, allowing a much more enjoyable.
Speaking of a bit of prep work, while out and about, purchasing feed and straw for the flock, I did remember to pick up extra wicks for my oil lantern, just in case the electricity went out (which does tend to happen from time to time with bad weather.) My sister, on the other hand, already had the foresight to retrofit her house, when she purchased it, making the fireplaces and her stove natural gas (which is awesome, even without power, the stove and fireplaces still work!) But why prep in advance, one could possibly have everything at one’s hand or delivered while on an adventure? Well….things can get icy without a bit of forethought (okay, cheesy puns aside, nasty weather does make things a bit more challenging!)
And the adventure part? The flurry of choice is an endless blizzard. For me, the adventure is being able to get to read a book, unhindered, delving into the pages, skating through the characters’ lives, snow shoeing through the plot, enjoying the snow day, exploiting the comforts of my love seat as the gusts of a zephyr wind howl outside.
My Travels 