Food: Garden Fresh Salsa

Cooking (and Reading) with your family

I could not believe I LOVED this salsa.  Normally I don't like vegetables and this salsa has all the ingredients I stay away from: cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, vinaigrette dressing...  But this combination is prize winning.  And the best part I had many of the ingredients right in my refrigerator, fresh from the garden.
This salsa is simple enough for children to make.  Adults should supervise the chopping but the combining and measuring is well within even primary aged children's abilities.
For more recipes to make with young readers look for this book.

For more recipes to make with young readers look for this book.  Chop Chop: The Kids' Guide to Cooking Real Food with Your Family, by Sally Sampson with photographs by Carl Tremblay (Simon and Schuster, 2013).

The following recipe for Garden Fresh Salsa is from our family recipe book and is simple (and fun to make) -- chop, add, and mix - in any order you wish:

 

Click on recipe card to access a printable copy.

• 2 1/2  to 3 cups fresh or frozen sweet corn (The small bag of Bird's Eye corn should have had 3 1/3 cups [5 servings of 2/3 cups] but it ended up lucky to have a full 2 cups as there was a lot of frozen water chunks in the package).
• 1 cup black beans (I just put in the entire can - the rest would have just gone to waste.)
• 3/4  cup chopped tomato
• 1/2 cup chopped granny smith apple - about 1/2 the apple - so I sliced the other half and dipped in caramel, a great treat while I was cooking.
• 1/2 cup chopped cucumber
• 1/4 cup red onion - saved some red onion slices for on my favorite salad: salad greens (fresh kale tonight), red onion, strawberries, and chopped nuts - Ken's Foods Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette dressing.
• 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinaigrette dressing  (I used Panera Balsamic Vinaigrette, but you could make your own using this copycat recipe - http://www.copycatrecipeguide.com/How_to_Make_Panera_Balsamic_Vinaigrette)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• Chopped cilantro (I bought a fresh batch and used my food processor to chop it up.  Had plenty so I put the rest in a jar to use in the next few days.)
• Salt to taste (I completely omitted this ingredient - so add as you wish.)
• Mix together. Chill and stir often
• Serve with tortilla chips.