Reba's Recipe Pico De Gallo (Fresh Tex Mex Salsa) & 5 Ways to Use It

Here in San Antonio, you can get lots of great salsas - reds, greens, even some browns that are tasty.  Having one's own original salsa recipe is almost as traditional as having one's own barbeque sauce recipe here in this part of Texas.  And, sure, you can buy Pace Picante Sauce all around the country now -- but all of this stuff is pureed, blended, even cooked.  With pico de gallo, you get something different: chopped, fresh, amazing stuff.

Pico De Gallo - Reba's Version

4-6 fresh tomatoes, chopped  (use a couple more if you use Romas and make sure you drain them since they carry lotsa water) (you cannot used canned here - gotta go with fresh)

1 medium sweet onion, chopped (I use either Vadalia or Texas 1015)

1 large jalapeno or serrano chili pepper (seed them if you don't like it hot, hot; choose jalapeno over serrano for less heat, as well - a serrano can be full of fire)(oh, and use green ones - if they've gone red, they're scary hot)

1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped fine (leaves, no stems)

Squeeze of fresh lime juice -- if you've got it.  No worries. 

Once you've chopped all these things up - and I think by hand is best, so you can insure that the pieces are all about the same size, then you've got something I'm sure they serve in Heaven.  What can you do with pico de gallo?  Oh, my.

5 Ways to Use Pico De Gallo

1.  Serve it as a dip with tortilla chips.  Go crazy if you want, and get a couple of packs of corn tortillas, cut them all in fourths, brush some veg oil (or canola) on them, lay them out separately on a baking sheet, toss some salt, and bake your own.  Or just buy a bag.  Just make sure the chips are hardy enough to handle the weight of the Pico as you pull it up from the bowl on the chip.

2.  Mash up 3-4 ripe avocados and combine with the Pico.  Voila, very wonderful guacamole.

3.  Scramble with some eggs, together with some Pico, and you've got Eggs a la Mexicana.  If you put some oil in the skillet and fry up crumbled pieces of tortillas chips, then add your eggs and Pico to cook, along with some shredded cheddar cheese and you've got another dish: a version of Chilaquiles.

4. Grill a couple of chicken breasts.  Throw a bunch of the Pico de Gallo over the top, serve with some rice and a nice salad.  Amazingly good.

5. Take a flour tortilla, a couple of big tablespoons of Pico de Gallo, and go wild with leftovers.  Here, we'd call them tacos, but if wrap works for you, fine.  Wrap it is.  Cut up leftover pork chops, throw that into the pico tortilla.  (Avocado slice here, fabulous.)  Stir together leftover beans and rice, maybe some cheese, and layer that into your Pico Tortilla.  Heck, throw in some salad blend from one of those boxes, add a little ranch dressing, and go to town with a Veggie taco, ... er, wrap.  (Ranch does go well with Pico. Try it, see what you think.)

Okay, now I've gone and made myself hungry.  I'm off to buy a taco.  At Taco Cabana.  With a side order of fresh Pico (yepper, here you can even get it at the drive thru.  I love San Antonio!!!).

Freebies - Site to Track Down Free Samples Online: Not for Everyone

You can get lots of free stuff off the web, if you know where to surf.  And, there is a website that does a lot of that work for you, Freeflys.com, as recommended by the CouponMom in her email today.

So, I decided to give it a looksie. Here's what I found.

1.  First, this site makes you join its membership (at no charge), so you may want to read its privacy statement before giving out your info.  The site is upfront that members will be receiving mailings from "Freeflys and its partners" - at least they're letting you know in advance, in bold print, right?

2. I joined.  It asks for my home address, etc., which I was hesitant to give.  Then I realized that they would need my mailing address to send all the free stuff, right?  So I caved.

3. Then I spent a long, long time going through all these windows with "join this survey" stuff.  Window after window.  Where are the freebies?

4. Finally, after saying No, No, No to all this survey stuff, I get to a page that has a list of the types of samples they offer.  They've got the option of an RSS feed for freebies, but it doesn't allow feeds into MyYahoo, Google, etc. (opens to my bookmark menu), so I'm not interested.   

5. Then, I go thru the lists.  What they're doing is linking you to the manufacturers' sites that also want you to do stuff (like join their Facebook site as a fan, etc.) before you get any free sample.  You don't get to just check off which free samples you want.

6.  And, after all this time and effort, not that much is being offered.  Five samples on the Food items list.  I'm not interested in anything here, except for maybe the Green Tea offer.  Except I've got a HUGE box of green tea that I already bought in a great deal (I drink a lot of this stuff), so I'm not swooning over a couple of free bags here.

Bottom line:  I was disappointed.  Maybe you won't be, if you like all this survey stuff and any free sample is fun for you.

Gratitude Is A Powerful Thing - Being Grateful Can Change Your Life

Gratitude, I've found, is a powerful thing.  When I was younger - working as a lawyer in a swanky downtown law firm - I didn't think about being grateful very often.  I was too busy, living that anything-but-simple lifestyle.  And if you'd asked me, I probably would have thought it was a sweet idea, somewhat corny, maybe I'd get around to it later.  I probably would have put "remember to be grateful" on my To Do List.

Today, I know better.  Being grateful for what you have is a very wise thing to do.  It lessens your stress, it helps you focus, it makes you happy and content.  Yes, no matter how bad a crisis you are in, stopping to be thankful for what you have at this very moment is important.

I also think it's essential to integrity, and honor, and courage ... but that's too much for this little blog post.

So, how to be grateful?  There are lots of books out there, both Christian and not, that give advice on learning this gratitude habit.

For me, it's a matter of every morning (for sure, because you start the day out powerfully) and periodically throughout the day, I thank God for as much as I can possibly recognize as a good thing in my life, and nothing can be too trivial.  Here's some of the things that I thank God for:

• hot water
• a shower
• shampoo and conditioner
• a washer and dryer 
• a washer and dryer IN MY HOUSE
• a roof over my head and sound walls that keep the rain out
• that peaceful, cozy feeling of listening to the rain falling outside, while I'm toasty warm under the covers
• my bed 
• my pretty quilt and comfy sheets
• coffee
• a fridge 
• electricity
• the ability to think
• the ability to pray
• that He listens to me
• that He gave us the Bible
• that there are churches and missionaries and charities to help people
• that I can see, and hear, and speak, and think
• that I'm healthy
• that my loved ones (including my pups) are healthy
• that I write for a living
• that I love what I do for a living 
• that I live in the city and state and country that I do 
• for jokes
• for laughter
• for books
• for the ability to read

... well, you get the idea.  This is all about gratitude, now.  My prayers asking that someone be helped, or comforted, etc. aren't part of this topic - so, yeah, I talk to God a lot when you start breaking all this stuff down.  Good thing He created patience, right?

However, the power of gratitude isn't exclusive to followers of Christ.  There is an energy that comes from stopping to survey where you are, in the very present moment, and see everything that is good in that moment and appreciate it, that is positive and electrifying.  And clarifying.

Really want to rally yourself into moving forward into a happy day?  Go thru all you can think about to be grateful for this very day, and ponder Haiti for a minute.  Now, all that consideration of electricity, and a coffee pot, and hot water for a shower doesn't seem so trivial does it?

Things are good, and everything's going to be alright.  Get out there and live a quality day!!!!

For more on gratitude:

1.  Books to Read

Gratitude - A Daily Journal by Jack Canfield

Thank You Power: Making the Science of Gratitude Work for You by Deborah Norville

Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy by Nancy Leigh DuMoss

2. Studies to Review

Emmons, R. A. & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 377-389.


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"Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." - 1 Thess. 16-19 NLT