Creamy Salsa Verde

Creamy Salsa Verde

Hey y’all! Okay, anyone from Texas knows that chips and dip is basically its own food group. There’s hot sauce, green sauce, queso, guacamole…the list goes on. A little while ago, I pinned this Creamy Salsa Verde recipe from Savvy Style, Mindful Home. Typically, I just view things on Pinterest as a way to make me feel like a frumpy, non-crafty, terrible cook who is bad at applying make up and unable to adequately decorate my home for holidays or throw a party. However, every once in a while, I dig through my 636 pins (not an exaggeration) and attempt to improve my feelings of inadequacy. I typically love green sauce at Mexican restaurants but honestly never have any idea what it contains. I hoped this simple recipe would have a similar taste, so I spent a little time one afternoon whipping it up.

I have listed the ingredients and directions below. Something to keep in mind though, is that this recipe is very versatile and customizable. For example, if you love cilantro (I’m looking at you, Sassy Kat), throw an extra handful in. My husband loves lime, so I squeezed in some extra lime juice. Feel free to make it your own with your favorite ingredients!

RecipeCard

 

First things first: wash your hands. Kidding! But seriously. Then, gather up all of your supplies! If you don’t have a food processor, I’m sure a blender would work just as well.

Supplies

 

Follow along with these easy steps to create the salsa.

1Tomatillos 2Avocado 3Garlic 4Onion5onioncry6jalapeno

Seriously, make sure you remove all of the jalapeño seeds…those little buggers are HOT. Also, if you get any jalapeño juice on your hands, make sure to wash them immediately. If that juice gets in your eye accidentally, you will not be finishing this salsa. And you will be writhing on your kitchen floor in pain.
7limeroll8lime 9cilantro 10salt 11blend 12jarOnce you’re done, it can be served immediately or poured into a container to be chilled in the refrigerator. One option is a leftover pickle jar that your husband keeps asking why you’re saving. (See, babe!? I TOLD you I’d find a use for it! 🙂 ) You can simply eat it with chips and dip, or it can be poured over tacos to add some flavor.

My thoughts? This salsa is okay. I tried it with some Tostitos immediately after I blended it, and I was NOT a fan. However, even though I wanted to throw it all away, I let it chill for a day. I tried it again, and it was MUCH tastier after the flavors had a chance to blend and “marinate” some. Overall, I would give it 3 out of 5 hoots.

Owl ScaleIf you’re having a fiesta and you want a variety of salsas for your guests to sample, give it a whirl. DON’T let it be your only option though, or you may have some angry Texans on your hands. Better to play it safe with some guacamole or queso ;). And the best option of all? Just drive to Pappasito’s and get a bag of their chips and a jar of their salsa. No one will complain then. 🙂

siggy3

 

 

Continue Reading

La Jolla Life: Part 3

La Jolla Life

Oops! I’ve let too much time go by since my last La Jolla Life post! We’re currently on Week 7 (what!?!) of our summer adventure, so I have a lot to catch y’all up on. We’ve had visitors, explored more, and had several Disneyland excursions, but I’ll save those details for some other posts! Here is a summary of some of the other Cali “adventures” we’ve experienced.

I’ve been spending some time with Louis’s coworker’s wife and daughters while we’re all here for the summer. They have been so sweet to let me “hoard in” on their mother-daughter time! A couple of weeks ago, we spent the day exploring the Westfield UTC Mall and Mt. Soledad. The malls here are basically all outdoor due to the year-round beautiful weather, and I can’t complain!

WestfieldUTCMallWe explored the various shops and ate outdoors at their food court. The mall even had a Tesla store, which doesn’t mean much to me. However, that is Louis’s current dream car as it is apparently masterfully engineered and electric. Naturally, I had to take a picture of the store front for him, and we have since returned to explore the store and dream of future purchases.

After we had our fill of the mall, we drove over to Mt. Soledad. This “mountain” holds a memorial for veterans and offers an amazing panoramic view of all of La Jolla and San Diego.

IMG_2083 IMG_2084 IMG_2089As you can see above, it was a rare overcast day in La Jolla. However, the views were beautiful, and the memorial was very touching. While I will always be a Texas girl at heart, I do love the terrain here. The hills (mountains? cliffs?) offer so many wonderful views regardless of if we’re sightseeing or simply driving around.

Another activity that often occurs when I’m with “the girls” is hairstyling. Below is their youngest daughter’s creation with my hair on the left. She kept saying this was The Princess Style. I also got to try The Princess Jasmine Style and The Princess Belle Style. On the right, I’m proud to claim that fishtail braid. 🙂

Hairstyles

 

Louis and I have also tried a few new restaurants since my last post. The first “restaurant” is none other than Krispy Kreme!

Krispy KremeWe each sampled their glazed donuts because, to us, that should be the heart of any donut establishment. Louis also tried a chocolate iced with sprinkles, while I opted for plain chocolate iced. Overall? Meh. The best part was the cute hat that Louis is modeling above. Now having tried Dunkin’ Donuts (YUCK.) and Krispy Kreme (meh.), I can safely say Shipley’s FAR surpasses any other donut chain. Honestly, that is one of the reasons we are most excited about going home to Texas. 🙂

Another California restaurant we sampled is Islands. Their main menu item is their burgers, but they offer other American food as well.

Islands

 

Their tag line is “Fine Burgers & Drinks.” I think they mean ‘fine’ as in high quality, but to us, it meant ‘fine’ as in yeah…it’s ok. Hah! Our burgers weren’t terrible, but they weren’t anything to write home about either. (I guess they were notable enough to blog about though? 😉 )

After Islands, we decided to branch out and try…wait for it…another burger place! Just kidding! This place does offer burgers, but they have several other options as well. Stacked is a trendy, cool restaurant located in Fashion Valley Mall. The coolest part about Stacked? Each table has an iPad on it, and that’s how you place your order! Everything from drinks to dessert! You can even request for your drink to be refilled from the iPad! The entire meal, I kept saying, “It’s like we’re living in the FUTURE!!!”

Stacked

 

The iPads were so awesome and so simple to use. You just “drag and dropped” whatever you wanted to add to your entree, and swiped it to the right if you wanted to remove it. You could also drop things next to your entree if you wanted them on the side. We were even able to pay by simply swiping our credit card on the iPad attachment. If this is the way of the future, waiters and waitresses better start looking for new career paths! Our burgers here were delicious, and we hope to return here before we journey home! The mall it was located at is amazing, too! It is the mall pictured in my intro photo at the top of this post, and it was gorgeous to walk around as the sun was setting.

Another fun thing I wanted to add in this post, is a plug about the Aggie Network! I mentioned how I ran into an Aggie I know at the San Diego Zoo. Since then, I met a sweet Aggie here on a mission trip at our hotel, AND we saw a car with a Former Student Century Club member decal on the back of their Tahoe. I creepily left them the note below on their windshield. Even though they had no way of getting in touch with us, I still wanted them to know there was another unit of the Aggie Network staying at their hotel! Too much? Oh well. The Aggie girl I met at breakfast, said she actually reached out to them as well, and that it was a sweet couple that graduated in 1958! Looks like they’ve been carrying on the Aggie Spirit for quite awhile! Gig ’em!

aggienetworkFinally, I want to give a shout out to all of the landscape artists and gardeners around La Jolla. All of the greenery, succulents, flowers, and general beauty around here is stunning! I keep seeing a particular black succulent that I affectionately coined “the Louis plant.” I said if he was turned into a plant this would be him because it is so beautiful and unique, and his favorite color is black. 🙂

IMG_2255

 

The outside is black, however the inside is a vibrant fuchsia. They grow up on a tan stem, which makes them tall…also like Louis 🙂 Their scientific name is the Aeonium arboreum Zwartkop, and they are also known as “Black Rose.”

black rose

 

Ok! Whew! That’s a long summary for now! Look for more posts soon including details about other experiences we’ve had here! Thanks for checking in…I’ll try to post more this week!

siggy3

 

 

 

 

Continue Reading