I used to play the salsa lottery. When you buy salsa in the market, you just never know what you’re going to get. Will it be too hot or too bland? Will the tomatoes be tasty, sweet and organic or mealy and flavorless? Will there be enough onion and cilantro? I like plenty of cilantro. Once you realize how easy it is to make your own salsa, you may never buy it again.

Ingredients:
• At least two fabulous tomatoes, chopped into small pieces. The best are organic heirloom, but they aren’t always available, especially in winter. So in winter I usually buy organic cherry tomatoes, which they even sell in Trader Joe’s, or Italian plum tomatoes. Don’t waste your money buying hot house tomatoes—I’ve yet to find one with any flavor.
• About 1/4 to 1/2 of a medium-sized yellow onion, chopped fine
• A bunch of cilantro, leaves stripped from stems for the most part, and chopped
• 1/2 jalapeno chili, seeds out, minced (you have to taste a tiny bit, see how hot it is, to know how much to add)
• 1/2 one of those smaller, dark green hot chilis, seeds out, minced (ditto, but very, very tiny)*
• 1/2 ripe avocado, cut into small chunks
• salt to taste (shouldn’t need much)

You’ll notice the emphasis on small pieces. That’s so you can get a little bit of everything into each scoop.

Mix all of these things together, get out a corn chip, and taste test. Then you can add more of whatever seems to be needed.

If it’s good to go, pop open a tall one et voila, you have a light and delicious chips and salsa (salad!) dinner.

* Be very careful to wash your hands thoroughly after working with chilis. If you happen to rub your eyes and have chili oil on your hands, it really feels nasty.

PS I don’t know why this program flipped my lovely photo on its side. I’ll try to find someone who can help me fix it.