Saturday, August 27, 2011

Fruit Salsa?

So today, like many other Saturdays, I cleaned out the fridge. This can be a horrifying and terrifying expedition but it can also be quite refreshing. After everything was removed from the fridge, I scrubbed down all the shelves. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it might be it - was just soooo cluttered I didn't know what was in there or what was growing it's own arms and legs if you know what I mean. In the process I came across a few strawberries that needed to be used up, some canned pineapple that needed to be used as well and some cilantro. So I got to thinking, "what can I do with these ingredients cuz I certainly couldn't just throw them out?" So how about some fruit salsa. I got to work on it. I chopped up the strawberries, the pineapple and cilantro and mixed them in a bowl. Next I went digging for more things to add. Found some green onions, chopped them and added them. Found a piece of leftover red pepper - chopped and added that to the bowl. And low and behold I had some wonderful jalapenos. Chopped, seeded (cuz not everyone likes it as how as I do) and added that to the bowl. Next I squeezed in some lime juice and honey. Sprinkled on some cayenne pepper and cumin. Tossed it a bit and right now it's marinating in the fridge for dinner tonight. I decided to marinate some boneless chicken for the grill to go with the salsa. The marinate was also a menagerie of leftovers from the fridge. I used the rest of the lime juice, some blood orange infused olive oil (this was gift from my daughter), cilantro, garlic, taco sauce and cactus jack spice (this is a wonderful secret spice mixture I get from brother). Whisked that up and poured it over the chicken. Later I'll grill the chicken and serve with the salsa. My fridge looks great and now I have some wonderful food for dinner. When my mom cleaned out her fridge she would make garbage soup. What do you do? Do you just throw everything away or do you try to repurpose it? Let me know...I'll let you know how dinner turns out but I don't think the hubby will be too fond of it. He believes salsa is only made from tomatoes and peppers and onions!! I'm gonna try and broaden his thinking!!

2 comments:

Elizabeth Johnson said...

James has the same opinion of salsa. Haven't been able to change it yet... but there's still hope!

Brenda said...

Sounds yummy. And, in this economy, I'll bet a lot of people might start doing this more often!!!