Do you have a favorite salsa recipe?

Mine is SO simple!

I chop a few tomatoes into small pieces, add about half a chopped onion, and add one finely chopped jalapeno pepper. Can’t get much simpler than that! Still, it totally satisfies me.

At one time I didn’t know much about Mexican food. My mother never cooked it. NEVER.

Then when I was about 23 years old, I had a Hispanic boyfriend. I say Hispanic instead of Mexican because he’s never been in Mexico. Maybe today the preferred term is Latino. I don’t know… Hispanic always sounded okay to me. Anyhow, he took me home to meet his parents… they were living in Chowchilla, California at the time. His mother made dinner … and I sat down to a meal like nothing I’d ever had before.

I was doing okay with the food - all vegetarian, my favorite! She gave me homemade pinto beans and fried potatoes on a paper plate, and then plunked down a flour tortilla right next to that. Oh my goodness! I had NO IDEA what to do with the tortilla! I had to sit there watching my boyfriend eat so I’d get an idea of what to do with it. He tore it into tiny pieces and used it to pick up the other foods!

That was my introduction to Mexican food. A few months later I MARRIED this guy, and actually LEARNED to cook Mexican foods. Then in 1985 we divorced… but I still love the Mexican food!

Have you ever noticed how much better home cooked pinto beans are? I mean, better than the ones coming out of a can? WOW, the taste differential is astounding!

I like to cook beans about once a week… usually black beans, pinto beans, or lentils. I often combine the lentils with rice. This is my burrito filling. At this point I’ve weaned myself off of cheese so all I put into my burritos is the beans, salsa, and sometimes potatoes, rice, or lettuce.

I also have the habit of warming my tortillas just like my mother-in-law did… directly over the flame of a gas burner. I’d be so lost with an electric stove! My now-boyfriend insists on frying his tortillas in a frying pan with butter. Not for me! I toss mine directly on a fully-lit burner and count to ten, then turn them over, count to ten, wait for the bubbles to emerge, and that’s it. No butter, no extra calories.. no mess.

Can you tell I love burritos? I’ve been eating them a lot lately… often alongside a mug full of my amazing and delicious vegetable soup. (The soup will have to be another posting… some other day.)

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Also: Happy First Day of Spring… Joyous Spring Equinox… and for the Persians and Baha’is: Happy Naw Ruz!