Hello!
A few weeks ago, a post I made about the Pinterest IPO which was picked up as a LinkedIn Editor's Pick. The next thing you know, I was back on Pinterest and down the rabbit hole! Unable to sleep that night, I created an entire board dedicated to Bloody Mary Brunch ideas and recipes. Not seeing a recipe for salsa, I created my own. I made mention of this and have had several requests for the recipe.
I generally do not share my recipes; my late Grandma taught me that a woman's personal recipes are a part of what make her special - and a hit at parties. (If you ever had the chance to taste her pineapple cheesecake, you would know what she meant. That cheesecake had a community following. Even people who hate cheesecake thought it divine, and it is my goal to one day properly replicate it). I've given a lot of thought to the matter of sharing my recipe, and asked myself, as I often do when faced with a dilemma, "What would Grandma do?"
My Grandma was a member of the Greatest Generation, which is to say that she did not do anything half-assed (like me, she put her full ass into every project she undertook and as Grumpa would have responded, that's a lot of ass! It was meant as a compliment. Like Freddie Mercury, Grumpa knew that fat-bottomed girls make the world go 'round. But I digress...). Grandma came of age in a world without television, let alone cable TV. There was no Julia Child, let alone an entire Food Network dedicated to food porn - even the ubiquitous Betty Crocker Cookbook had yet to be published. In my Grandma's day, recipes were passed down from mother to daughter and, once mastered, tweaked to make them one's own. But the world has changed since Grandma's day; women now work full-time outside the home, many of us are heads of household, and convenience food has become the answer to the perennial mealtime question, "What's for dinner?" How many of us still prepare from scratch that which can be found in a jar? Who has the time?
After my parents divorced, my mother went from being a full-time Housewife to the Director of a Single Parent Household. My Grandma, fearing that we would all be eating out of cans, felt it best that I learn how to cook dinner in order to assist my Mom after a hard day at work. My Mom had other ideas. Despite her crazy work schedule, Mom always managed to prepare dinner from scratch - that is, to use the current vernacular, using whole foods. She set a high bar to meet, and at thirteen years old I was light years away from meeting it. Mom's specialty? A delicate, perfectly puffed cheese soufflé with sides of toast points and cinnamon-spiced spinach (fresh, not frozen!). My specialty? Spaghetti with meat sauce. Using jarred sauce.
My cooking skills did not develop into what they are today until well into my thirties - when I started tutoring chemistry. I had my share of nervous students, scared that they would blow up the lab by mixing the wrong chemicals in the wrong amounts, and would encourage them with humor, saying "chemistry is like cooking; just don't lick the spoon when you are finished".
This comic relief not only put the student at ease but made me realize that I had found the key to successful cooking. In the chem lab I was unstoppable, mixing solutions to painfully exact forensic concentrations; heating experiments to just the right temperature for just the right amount of time; dropping F-bombs like Gordon Ramsey every time I spilled something. Why should cooking scare me? It's just like chemistry, except that I get to taste my experiments! And so it was while on one journey that I discovered a side path that led to another one: food chemistry and the kitchen, or how to make healthy, well-balanced meals that also taste like something people actually want to eat. But again - who has the time to prepare such foods?
After leaving tutoring to return to full-time work in writing and business development, I realized that I missed cooking and the chemistry that went along with it. I started to dedicate my weekends to experimenting in the kitchen, learning what different herbs and spices tasted like and, more importantly, how they tasted together and in what order they needed to be added to ensure proper blending. Did I have failures? Too many to mention here, although I will say that mixing tarragon and cumin is not a good idea. Did I have fun? Absolutely. Most importantly, I learned what foods can be made ahead to be used as ingredients in other meals, cutting down on prep-time for mid-week meals. Alleluia! Knowing that my Grandma would be proud of me, I found the confidence to create my own full recipes, and not just tweak those created by others through different spicing or sauces. Which leads me back to my Bloody Mary Salsa. If you have read this far, you deserve to have the recipe. So here it is:
Kimmie's Bloody Mary Salsa
Skill level: Beginner/Easy
Prep time: 15 minutes
Total time: 8 hours and 15 minutes
Ingredients
3 medium red tomatoes (I use vine ripened)
1 can (15 oz) black beans
1 cup frozen yellow corn, defrosted but not heated
1/2 cup diced red onion
2 tablespoons dried cilantro
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 4-oz jar hot diced jalapenos (for medium salsa. Leave out for mild salsa, substitute with diced Serrano peppers for hot salsa or diced green Habanero peppers for blazing hot salsa)
1/4 cup Bloody Mary mix (spiced to your preference)
Optional: 2 tablespoons vodka, regular or pepper flavored
Directions
Dice tomatoes into ¼ inch pieces and put into a medium sized (2 qt.) mixing bowl. Add cilantro, salt, pepper, red onion, and jalapenos or other desired peppers. Mix well. Add black beans and yellow corn, mix well with spoon or spoonula – do NOT use an electric mixer! Add Bloody Mary mix, optional vodka, and mix again to coat all ingredients. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours, or overnight.
Best served with large tortilla chips or sturdy crackers. Can also be served in scoop-style tortilla chips, with a small star-tip dollop of sour cream on top for a creative appetizer tray.
Categories: vegan, vegetarian, appetizers, snacks
A few weeks ago, a post I made about the Pinterest IPO which was picked up as a LinkedIn Editor's Pick. The next thing you know, I was back on Pinterest and down the rabbit hole! Unable to sleep that night, I created an entire board dedicated to Bloody Mary Brunch ideas and recipes. Not seeing a recipe for salsa, I created my own. I made mention of this and have had several requests for the recipe.
I generally do not share my recipes; my late Grandma taught me that a woman's personal recipes are a part of what make her special - and a hit at parties. (If you ever had the chance to taste her pineapple cheesecake, you would know what she meant. That cheesecake had a community following. Even people who hate cheesecake thought it divine, and it is my goal to one day properly replicate it). I've given a lot of thought to the matter of sharing my recipe, and asked myself, as I often do when faced with a dilemma, "What would Grandma do?"
My Grandma was a member of the Greatest Generation, which is to say that she did not do anything half-assed (like me, she put her full ass into every project she undertook and as Grumpa would have responded, that's a lot of ass! It was meant as a compliment. Like Freddie Mercury, Grumpa knew that fat-bottomed girls make the world go 'round. But I digress...). Grandma came of age in a world without television, let alone cable TV. There was no Julia Child, let alone an entire Food Network dedicated to food porn - even the ubiquitous Betty Crocker Cookbook had yet to be published. In my Grandma's day, recipes were passed down from mother to daughter and, once mastered, tweaked to make them one's own. But the world has changed since Grandma's day; women now work full-time outside the home, many of us are heads of household, and convenience food has become the answer to the perennial mealtime question, "What's for dinner?" How many of us still prepare from scratch that which can be found in a jar? Who has the time?
After my parents divorced, my mother went from being a full-time Housewife to the Director of a Single Parent Household. My Grandma, fearing that we would all be eating out of cans, felt it best that I learn how to cook dinner in order to assist my Mom after a hard day at work. My Mom had other ideas. Despite her crazy work schedule, Mom always managed to prepare dinner from scratch - that is, to use the current vernacular, using whole foods. She set a high bar to meet, and at thirteen years old I was light years away from meeting it. Mom's specialty? A delicate, perfectly puffed cheese soufflé with sides of toast points and cinnamon-spiced spinach (fresh, not frozen!). My specialty? Spaghetti with meat sauce. Using jarred sauce.
My cooking skills did not develop into what they are today until well into my thirties - when I started tutoring chemistry. I had my share of nervous students, scared that they would blow up the lab by mixing the wrong chemicals in the wrong amounts, and would encourage them with humor, saying "chemistry is like cooking; just don't lick the spoon when you are finished".
This comic relief not only put the student at ease but made me realize that I had found the key to successful cooking. In the chem lab I was unstoppable, mixing solutions to painfully exact forensic concentrations; heating experiments to just the right temperature for just the right amount of time; dropping F-bombs like Gordon Ramsey every time I spilled something. Why should cooking scare me? It's just like chemistry, except that I get to taste my experiments! And so it was while on one journey that I discovered a side path that led to another one: food chemistry and the kitchen, or how to make healthy, well-balanced meals that also taste like something people actually want to eat. But again - who has the time to prepare such foods?
After leaving tutoring to return to full-time work in writing and business development, I realized that I missed cooking and the chemistry that went along with it. I started to dedicate my weekends to experimenting in the kitchen, learning what different herbs and spices tasted like and, more importantly, how they tasted together and in what order they needed to be added to ensure proper blending. Did I have failures? Too many to mention here, although I will say that mixing tarragon and cumin is not a good idea. Did I have fun? Absolutely. Most importantly, I learned what foods can be made ahead to be used as ingredients in other meals, cutting down on prep-time for mid-week meals. Alleluia! Knowing that my Grandma would be proud of me, I found the confidence to create my own full recipes, and not just tweak those created by others through different spicing or sauces. Which leads me back to my Bloody Mary Salsa. If you have read this far, you deserve to have the recipe. So here it is:
Kimmie's Bloody Mary Salsa
Skill level: Beginner/Easy
Prep time: 15 minutes
Total time: 8 hours and 15 minutes
Ingredients
3 medium red tomatoes (I use vine ripened)
1 can (15 oz) black beans
1 cup frozen yellow corn, defrosted but not heated
1/2 cup diced red onion
2 tablespoons dried cilantro
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 4-oz jar hot diced jalapenos (for medium salsa. Leave out for mild salsa, substitute with diced Serrano peppers for hot salsa or diced green Habanero peppers for blazing hot salsa)
1/4 cup Bloody Mary mix (spiced to your preference)
Optional: 2 tablespoons vodka, regular or pepper flavored
Directions
Dice tomatoes into ¼ inch pieces and put into a medium sized (2 qt.) mixing bowl. Add cilantro, salt, pepper, red onion, and jalapenos or other desired peppers. Mix well. Add black beans and yellow corn, mix well with spoon or spoonula – do NOT use an electric mixer! Add Bloody Mary mix, optional vodka, and mix again to coat all ingredients. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours, or overnight.
Best served with large tortilla chips or sturdy crackers. Can also be served in scoop-style tortilla chips, with a small star-tip dollop of sour cream on top for a creative appetizer tray.
Categories: vegan, vegetarian, appetizers, snacks
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