Pico de Gallo

I love fresh salsa, it's so easy to make and it tastes so good!! Made with fresh from the garden tomatoes, it's even better! I love the already minced garlic in the jar, that is what I usually use in most of my recipes, it can be used in this recipe, but fresh garlic that you mince yourself will be 100 times better! It's worth the extra work for me to mince the garlic for this Pico de Gallo. This recipe is more of guide then an actual recipe also, you can adjust anything in the recipe to your family's likings. If your family doesn't like much onion, don't put as much in. If you really love cilantro, like me, add a whole bunch. If you don't like much spice, only add one jalapeño. Make it how your family will enjoy it!! Serve with homemade or store bought tortilla chips and your good to go!!

Pico de Gallo

6 roma tomatoes, chopped
1 small onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapeño peppers, minced
½ bunch cilantro, chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt (or more to taste)
½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper (or more to taste)

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving. Stir once more before serving and enjoy with your favorite chips!

Homemade Tortilla Chips

desired quantity corn tortillas
oil for frying
salt

Heat oil on high heat in a large skillet. Make sure there is at least ½” of oil. Cut the corn tortillas into slices that resemble chips. Place cut tortillas into hot oil and cook 1 to 2 minutes per side, until they are a golden brown color. Take browned tortilla chip out of oil and place on a paper towel lined plate, season with salt and enjoy!

Extreme Chicken

This dinner is pretty versatile, if your kids don't like spicy things, just leave the jalapeño rings off of their plates. And, if you like more spice use spicy hot chili! If your watching your weight, use vegetarian or turkey chili, reduced fat cheese and ranch dressing, and use a baked potato instead of the tater tots. It's still going to be really yummy! This is one of those dinners that is just so easy to put together, but it tastes amazing! And what kid isn't going to love eating chili cheese tater tots with some chicken thrown in for dinner?! My kids love this dinner and always eat it all up! Just serve with a veggie (in this case we made green beans from the garden) and you are good to go!

Extreme Chicken

2 lb. bag frozen tater tots
6 small boneless skinless chicken breasts
season salt to taste
2 (15 ounce) cans chili with beans
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded divided
prepared ranch dressing, for topping
chopped tomatoes, for topping
diced onions, for topping
jarred jalapeño rings, for topping

Cook tater tots as directed on bag. While those are cooking heat a large skillet over high heat. Spray with cooking spray and place chicken breasts that have been seasoned with season salt into skillet. Brown on each side, about 4 minutes per side or until the chicken is almost all of the way cooked through. Once the chicken is browned, open and pour the two cans of chili over the chicken breasts. Cover with a lid or with foil and cook on medium heat until chili is heated through and chicken is done cooking. Remove lid and cover everything with 1 cup of shredded cheese, place lid or foil back on until cheese is melted. To serve, place a serving size of tater tots on plate, cover with one chicken breast and some of the chili. Add extra cheese, if desired and drizzle ranch dressing on top, followed by any of the other toppings that you like. We use diced onions, chopped tomatoes and jalapeño rings. Enjoy! Serves 6.

Fried Green Tomatoes

I made these babies a week ago or so after walking through my garden and getting a little excited for all of my tomatoes. I picked three of them, which were hard and green and brought them in the house dreaming of fried green tomatoes. I don't live in the south, nor have I ever even visited the south, but the night before I was watching a show on the travel channel that was talking about fried green tomatoes and I just had to make some! So, that is how this recipe came to be. I'll have to admit that I'm the only one in my family that really appreciated them, my kids ate the fried batter part and left the tomatoes and my husband ate one but wasn't too excited about them. So, don't expect that your family is going to go gaga over these, they might not. But, if you serve them with a side of ranch dressing, they might really like them too! So, if you have lots of tomatoes that are still green out in your garden, go pick a few and fry them up! You might like 'um!

Fried Green Tomatoes

1 cup buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
4 green tomatoes, sliced thick about 1/4"
2/3 cup flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon Cajun season salt
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
oil for frying

In a bowl mix together the buttermilk and egg until combined. In a separate bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, Cajun seasoning, kosher salt and ground black pepper. Heat oil over high heat in a large skillet. Take the slices of green tomato and dip in buttermilk mixture and then into the flour mixture, repeat dipping back into buttermilk mixture and then back into flour mixture. Place into hot oil and cook until a nice golden color on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. When done cooking, transfer to a paper towel lined plate and let cool a minute or two before eating. Serve with ranch dressing if desired.