Making something Mexican?

shhh don’t tell on me. Tonight I have  a party to attend and I was asked to bring a fresh salsa. To tell the truth, Mexican food is my favorite after Italian food. So I enjoy making and consuming fresh salsa as much as the next person. I chose to make Pico de Gallo for my salsa.

Pico de Gallo

(I changed amounts in the recipe from the original.)

6 cups seeded chopped tomatoes

juice of 3 limes

1/2  red onion, diced

1 1/2 jalapenos, seeded and diced *

2-3 cloves of minced garlic

1/2 cup chopped cilantro with extra to garnish

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all in a bowl, use cilantro for garnish and serve fresh. Do not wait too long to eat or serve. This might keep in the fridge to eat the leftovers the next day, but they lose something by then.

*Use gloves when handling any peppers. One time I made cream cheese stuffed jalapenos and did not use gloves. I was working with 2 pounds of the peppers. Ouch. I washed and dried my hands so many times that they dried out. I applied lotion which only held in the heat of the oils. I ended up soaking my hands in a big bowl of vegetable oil for 30 minutes. It was a painful experience and I will never handle any hot pepper without gloves.

**Second note-when making this yesterday, I wore gloves. But some of the oil splashed to my face when deseeding. Eventually I started breathing that in and it caused me some difficulty in breathing. I am warning you, don’t handle hot peppers of any type without a mask and maybe eye protection! Seriously, I had to wear a bandana across my nose and mouth to finish. And every time I stirred the bowl, the vapors caused me to cough and hurt. But-the end result was a delicious salsa. One party guest said it was better than Chipoltle’s! Yeah me!