A Salsa and Dog Food Weekend

I had such a good weekend! Very relaxing. I literally spent all day on Saturday at my friend Amanda's house on the couch. She makes THE BEST homemade salsa in the world, so we wore our elastic waist bands and spent a full day of lounging & binging with the kids. She has a 1yr old daughter named Bella and an adorable springer spaniel named Maggie...and of course I brought Jakers along. Jakers doesn't get along with many dogs, but he does with Maggie. Wait, I take that back. He tolerates Maggie. :) He also seemed to be OK with the situation due to the fact Maggie has self control, therefore has a self-feeding dog dish (the food just continuously pour out). Jake helped himself to that scene and pretty much cleaned her out. I truly thought he might eventually cut himself off, but like mother, like son -- he did not. (And believe you me, he had some regrets the following day.)

As much as I love salsa and know it's so good for you with all the fresh veggies...I encounter the same problem that I have mentioned with guacamole -- I end up eating a whole bag of chips. But Amanda swears by her salsa as a good "sauce" for pasta or even as a salad dressing. I am not able to set down the chips long enough to find out, but I'll take her (skinny) word for it. :)

Amanda's Fresh Salsa

Tomatoes: I usually use 3-4 big ones or 6-8 small ones
Green Peppers: 1-3 depending on size and how much you like this flavor, it can get strong.
Onion: 1 small or 3/4 of a large
Cilantro: 1 bunch, again this can get strong so put in as much as you like
Black Beans: one can, I get the "Southwestern" flavor ones
Rotel (in case you're not familiar, this can be found by the canned tomatoes): one to two cans depending on how spicy you want it, I get the Mexican flavor with lime juice and cilantro
Garlic: about 4 cloves

Combine all in the food processor. Salt and pepper to taste. Add any extra of the ingredients above if you want more of a certain flavor. I also add lime juice sometimes and fresh jalapeños. You can also add cumin if you want.

The onion flavor will get stronger once it sits for awhile, so keep that in mind too.