Arizona Style Salsa

Those of us that grew up in the southwest already know that we are surrounded by great Mexican food. If you will be attending FMCA’s 101st International Convention & RV Expo in March, I encourage you to check out the local Mexican restaurants, specifically the Arizona style salsa!

Today I’m sharing two very different kinds of salsa that are both great in their own way.

Salsa Con Queso

First up is a salsa that we affectionately call Con Queso, which means “with cheese.”  It’s super easy. You only use two ingredients and the microwave.  You’ll find it in our RV on almost every trip. On the rare occasion that we have salsa left over, we love it poured over chicken breasts or in an egg burrito.

Cut up a brick of Velveeta Cheese and place it in a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl.

Add one can of Rotel, juice included and stir.

Microwave on high for 1 minute, stir.  Repeat until cheese is melted.  Eat!

Ingredients

• 1 brick Velveeta
• 1 can Rotel

Directions

1.  Cut Velveeta into cubes and place in a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl.  Add Rotel, (juice included) and stir.
2. Microwave on high in one-minute increments, stirring each time until cheese is melted and smooth.
3. Serve immediately with warm tortilla chips.

Restaurant Style Salsa

Next up is a restaurant-style salsa.  As you know, salsa is an important part of any Mexican cuisine. It’s the first thing placed on the table in just about every single Mexican restaurant.  When we can’t go out to a good restaurant, we resort to making our own.  Our dear friend Cathie makes an amazing restaurant-style salsa. She gives our son Kevin his own jar every year for his birthday.  We ration it out, making sure everyone gets an equal amount.  Now that it’s just the two of us in the house, we happily chow down on half a jar each!

While her recipe is top secret, I managed to find one that’s pretty close to that I will share with you. 

This recipe uses a food processor.  A blender will probably work but the food processor really does a great job.

My Process

I start by rinsing the cilantro well. Next, I pat it dry with a paper towel then let it sit to finish drying while I get the rest ready. This is my own quirk, I know, but Mark isn’t a cilantro guy so I need to make sure it is totally and completely pureed so he can’t see big pieces of it.

Next, I seed the jalapenos and cut them in big chunks.  I love them but while I’m cutting them my lungs do not.  I used three for this particular batch because they were small.

Now that the hard part is done, let’s make salsa!

Cut the white bulb from the bottom of the green onions and toss them in the food processor. 

Then add the chopped jalapenos, cilantro, and garlic.  We like a lot of garlic so I use a tablespoon but you can use as much or as little as you like.

Pulse in the food processor until it’s very finely chopped like mush.  You might need to scrape down the sides a few times during this process.

Add the cans of tomatoes (juice included) along with the salt, cumin and lime juice.  Pulse until blended.

Store any leftovers in a sealed container.  We like it as a salad dressing for taco salad.  I also use it on top of chicken breasts in the crockpot when I need shredded chicken.  You can freeze it, too, but it will be a little watery when defrosted.  I solve that by pulsing it in the food processor with another small can of diced tomatoes.

Ingredients

• 6 green onions, white ends only
• 1-2 jalapenos
• 1 handful cilantro
• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
• Juice from one lime
• 14.5-ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• 14.5-ounce can whole tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin

Directions

1. Rinse cilantro and pat dry. 
2. Seed and rough cut the jalapenos.
3. Place onions, jalapenos, garlic and cilantro in a food processor. 
4. Pulse until very finely chopped.
5. Add both cans of tomatoes, juice included. 
6. Add salt, cumin and lime juice. 
7. Pulse until liquid.
8. Refrigerate for a couple of hours to allow the flavors to blend. 
9. Serve with warm tortilla chips.

We hope to see you at the convention in March!  We will definitely have chips and some Arizona style salsa!

Meet the Family
I’m Maureen Milne, F446881 . I’m a mom of two (now grown-up!) boys, ages 26 and 24. My husband, Mark, and I have been married 30 years. We are an adventurous family; our friends call us “X-Games.”  We are avid hikers, cyclists, and skiers (both snow and water). Mark does triathlons and we run in 4-5 races a year. We’ve been RVing together since we were teenagers in 1984. I share our RVing adventures on my blog, M&M Hit The Road. I also post stories and pictures on Facebook and Instagram.