Saturday, September 4, 2010

Killer Quesadillas and Homemade Salsa


The garden is just going crazy here at Purple Chocolat Home
and if you saw the posts on my garden you realize that it
is planted amongst the flowers but I still get a lot of
produce, just not enough to really can.
Yet, there are more tomatoes than we can eat so
last year I hit upon a great way to use up all those
tomatoes and get the fam to consumer plenty of
lycopene!



I adapted this recipe from our neighbor Jeff
who would bring us his salsa all of the time.
  He used canned tomatoes.  He
adapted his from the back of a vinegar bottle. 

I can't get that vinegar, so I made my own, so let's start there.



Santa Fe Chili Pepper Vinegar

Clean and sterilize glass bottles with tops or screw caps.

In clean bottles place:

 1 T. whole peppercorns
3 whole cloves garlic
3-4 small green or red chili peppers
sprig of basil
sprig of oregano

Fill with white wine vinegar.
Replace cap and let sit for at least 3 days
for the flavor to develop.

To make the labels:
I downloaded a picture of chilis from http://www.photobucket.com/
a free photo sharing site and added the title
then printed it off on label paper and attached it to the
bottles.  What a great gift this makes.
 Click here for the instructions that I gave
previously when making the labels for
 Garlic Basil Oil.
Several people wanted to know where I got
that photo for the label on the basil oil. 
 It was on page 13 under Herb Garden
(not Herb Gardens) on the Photo Bucket site.
Yes, a little hard to find but worth it.


Fresh Salsa Recipe

8 C. fresh tomatoes
1 large onion
3/4 C. mild pickled jalapeno peppers
(or 3 T. hot pickled jalapeno peppers,
or 2 fresh jalapeno peppers or to taste)
1/4 - 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro
1 tsp dried cumin
1 T. minced fresh garlic
1 T. salt
1 T. sugar
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp white pepper (optional)
1/4 C. Santa Fe Chili Pepper Vinegar
(you can use regular unseasoned vinegar)

Blend 3/4 of the tomatoes, leaving a few
chunks.  Remove and blend the remaining
tomatoes with the remaining ingredients.
Mix all together.  The flavors will blend as it sits
in the fridge.

(If you want to make this during the winter
with canned tomatoes, use 4 - 14 oz. cans
of tomatoes and reduce the salt by 1 tsp.)



Killer Quesadillas

8 - 10 inch flour tortillas (we love Costco's
ready to cook tortillas)
2 C.shredded or cubed cooked chicken breast
4 C. shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
8-12 slices cooked bacon
chopped fresh cilantro
chopped fresh red onion

Butter or spray with cooking oil one side of each
cooked tortilla.
Layer one cooked tortilla with cheese, chicken,
bacon, cilantro and red onion.  Top with
second tortilla.  Cook in frying pan on medium
high heat or on griddle until cheese is melted.
Serve with fresh salsa, guacamole and sour cream.


My friend Monique taught me how to make these
at Lake Powell.  They are also great with steak.


I hope you enjoy your tomatoes this year and maybe
these recipes will help you enjoy them even more!

I will be posting this with
and
Jacqueline
Jacqueline

Chocolat - French for Chocolate. I adored chocolate from a young age when I had to sneak in the cupboard to find where my mother had hidden the Nestle's Chocolate Chips. Having read about the famous chocolat shoppes in Paris, when I finally got there I was determined to try a chocolate from every Paris shoppe. I invite you to share my adventures in creating, in travel, and in life.

21 comments:

  1. I really like your blog !! it ia always a party to be here!!....such a yammie food always........wishing you a happy happy sunday......love Ria.....

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  2. It all looks great, nothing better than home made salsa! Have a great Labor Day:@)

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  3. Jacqueline- This (all of it) is impressive. My family would go nuts! I will definitely try the quesadillas. Unfortunately, our tomatoes did not produce at all this year. We can't figure it out--the plants are gorgeous; just no tomatoes :) I love your labels. What a great gift for the Mexican food lovers in my life--almost every body!

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  4. Love the vinegars. I havn't made infused vinegars, but I have made oils, and they are so fabulous. Love salsa and quesadillas. Yours look soooooooooo good. Have to give them a try. Hugs, Marty

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  5. Everything looks great and delicious!

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  6. This all looks so scrummy! I really love your blog.
    Happy Sunday!
    Shel

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  7. That salsa looks delish! I wish we had the time to do a garden. *sigh*

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  8. I think it's ambitious that you make your own salsa, but to make your own vinegar?!?! Now that's over the top! You're amazing!

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  9. P.S. Your quesadilla looks delicious too! I love that you can pretty much throw whatever you want into one:)

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  10. I just looked in my fridge and saw two grilled chicken breasts that we need to polish off today. Thanks for several great recipes. Enjoy the holiday!

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  11. Those bottles look very nice.
    ~Kimberlee
    www.TheSpunkyDiva.blogspot.com

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  12. Beautiful salsa and vinegar! The quesadillas look so delicious. Hope you had a great holiday weekend.

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  13. I love all of these ideas ~ thank you! Will definitely create some gifts as well as those quesadillas...they look yummy!

    Hope you're having a wonderful holiday ~

    Pat

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  14. MMM... the salsa looks delicious and so inviting I wouldn't mind a taste right now.
    I made vinegar with the Vinegar Ladies a number of years ago and we enjoyed those recipes too. Thanks for the tip on the labels:)
    The quesdilla looks scruptious too and we love the those tortillas from Costcos!
    You are such a multi~talented lady! I enjoy my visits here very much! ~♥

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  15. OOOh yummy yummy. I thank you for the recipes.. I love the labels.. Have a blessed day!

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  16. Oh my goodness, where do I begin...... I love the vinegar recipe and yes I am going to try it. I love your cookie recipe using a cake mix and yes I am going to try it and I have to say that your granddaughters picture on your side bar in her pretty pink dress is so adorable. She must make every Saturday a Pretty pink Saturday for her grandma. Thank you so much for stopping by. I am off to do some cooking. I'll let you know how I did.

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  17. You seriously have the best taste and blog!!! = )

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  18. Jacqueline, your quesadilla look awesome with the fresh salsa...so yummie!

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  19. Jacqueline -- when I was up there I should have asked for some tomatoes...mine did not do well...not enough hot weather? Lovely pics of your food and salsa...love the bottles and labels too. Joni

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  20. Thanks for sharing the salsa recipe! I couldn't believe how beautiful the color is with fresh garden tomatoes. That was a fun party last night. It looks like the kids all had a great time.

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  21. I love how fresh this salsa is.

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