Cucumber salsa, say what?!

When I started today off planning what I would make for dinner I was thinking about what I would post tonight but my day took a different turn.  Its close to spring break and most students are hitting that point where they are stressed too much and today I hit that point.  I spent my afternoon cleaning everything in sight and trying to calm my self down. Amongst my stress induced cleaning fit I spent some time on Pintrest and found a perfect salsa recipe! I knew I wouldn't be done with classes and home until after 9 so I knew dinner would be eaten around 10 so when I found the recipe I rushed to the store to pick up just one or two things I needed to finish the ingredient list.  Before I tell you all about it though I will briefly share what I had for dinner!

Tonight dinner consisted of roasted potatoes, peas, corn, and "Chicken" for me but a real chicken breast for my roommate.  I took 2 potatoes and cut them up and boiled them for about 5 min.  After that I put them in a gal. bag with some olive oil, minced basil, and salt.  Shake vigorously and them spread them on a baking pan and bake for about 15-20 min on 375.  Now I don't measure things exactly, my mom doesn't and her mom doesn't. We are not patient women and we simply eyeball everything, so if you are looking for measurements for the seasoning above guess about 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 teaspoon of the other things per potato.  They create this wonderfully crisp salty starch to have with your meal.  As far as chicken meat replacements goes I am not sure what brand is vegan and what brand is not.  I use Morning Star or Quorn.  Both have great products and be found in most grocery stores so you don't have to go to Earth Fare or Fresh Market type stores to find it.  My roommate made a Marsala sauce to go on the chicken.  I know that seems random to throw an Italian sauce on a very southern "meat and potato" type meal but some times you need a good sauce and thats something she makes very well! A simple quick meal that was filling and not hard to make!

Now lets talk about this salsa!

I love to make fresh salsa and guacamole but I have trouble finding combinations of ingredients that really go well together and create a good texture. Well today was one that I will be keeping and making very often! WARNING: its not completely vegan but can be tweaked, and so very addictive! We ate almost all of the salsa in one sitting! I have posted a picture of the salsa below but its a little ugly looking, so I also put up a nice filtered picture of the ingredients. So here it goes...

2 cups finely chopped seeded peeled cucumber
1/2 cup finely chopped seeded tomato
1/4 cup chopped red onion
2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and chopped
4-1/2 tsp minced fresh cilantro
1 garlic clove, minced or pressed

Mix these in a bowl together (NOTE: wash your hands throughly after chopping the jalepeno! I spent the rest of my day with fingers I couldn't touch my face with because I had juice around my nails and needless to say it was a painful day with spices on my lips and nose.)

Now:
1/4 c sour cream
1-1/2 tsp lemon juice
1-1/2 tsp lime juice

1 avocado peeled and pureed
1/4 tsp ground cumin go in a bowl together, throughly mix and then pour over the other ingredients! Mix, and then eat with tortilla chips!
Seriously one of the best salsas I have made thus far!



The picture here is what the original recipe was but after eating a few bites my roommate and I decided that it needed to be thicker and spicier. So from there I took an avocado and pureed it and then added a spoonful more of sour cream and then more cumin! After adding that it made it so much better! We have loved it so much and it was a great thing to stumble upon today :)