A Taste of Texas Baby Shower (Part 1)

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to host a baby shower for the Gonzales family. They are expecting will be adding a little boy to their already adorable family! Since both Mom and Dad have families located in Texas, I decided to do a little Tex-Mex flavor to remind them of home. This post is the 3 salsas that were featured. The following post will be drinks and dips.

The first salsa is a traditional salsa that comes from, "1001 Way to Cook Southern". I love that it uses ingredients that are in season right now. It had the perfect amount of heat!

Traditional Salsa

3 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and diced

2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

1 Tbsp. minced onion

1 to 2 tsp. minced jalapeno pepper

1 tsp. fresh lime juice

1/8 tsp. salt

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Makes 1 1/2 cups

The is a corn salsa, which was probably my favorite. Everyone in my family adores anything with corn in it. Lucky for us the season for corn is upon us, and thanks for my friends the Budenski's I'll be featuring a a few corn recipes over the next couple of weeks. This particular recipe comes from, "Home Cooking with Trish Yearwood".

Corn Salsa

1( 15 oz) yellow corn, drained

1( 15 oz) white corn, drained

1( 4 oz) can chopped green chiles, drained

1 (2 1/2 oz) can sliced black olives, drained

4 green onions, minced

2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped

3 tablespoons white vinegar

1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro

Mix the corn, chiles, olives, onions, tomatoes, jalapenos, vinegar, oil, and salt in a medium bowl and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour. Just before serving, add the cilantro. Serve with your favorite tortilla chips. Serves 20.

This salsa is great because it doesn't use tomatoes. It uses my favorite summer fruit: watermelon! It has a fresh and lightly sweet taste that is unbelievable. It would even recommend serving with fish because of the amount of citrus in it! This recipes is also from, "Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood".

Watermelon Salsa

1 1/2 teaspoons lime zest (from about 1 lime)

1/4 cup lime juice (about 3 limes)

1 tablespoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon pepper

3 cups seeded and finely chopped watermelon

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

1 small red onion, finely chopped

8 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Stir together the lime zest, lime juice, sugar and pepper. Add the watermelon, cucumber, jalapeno, onion, and basil and toss gently. Chill the salsa until ready to serve and add the garlic salt just before serving. Serve with tortilla chips or pita chips. Makes 3 cups.

Part 2 is all about dips and drinks, so come on back!