Red Sauce Salsa

Yet another recipe from The Homesick Texan Cookbook. Super easy and super tasty. This recipe uses canned crushed tomatoes which are fine everyday salsa. Great in breakfast tacos, with chips, over eggs, or whatever. I buzz up some of this about every two weeks. It lasts around a week, but it does become more "garlic-y" over time. I've cut the original recipe from two cloves to one. I imagine one could use garlic powder in a pinch. The only fresh ingredients you need are an onion, lemon, garlic and cilantro. Keep the other ingredients on hand and you can make a batch anytime.

Ingredients
1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
1 clove of garlic peeled and halved
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 tablespoon cumin
1/2 cup cilantro (some stems are okay, but mostly leaves)
1/4 to 1/2 or more pickled jalapeños (you can add a little of the pickling liquid if you want)
2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
1 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes (Hunt's are good)
Salt to taste

Directions

Add the ingredients in the order listed above to a blender. Blend until pretty smooth but not liquifed. Sample and salt to taste stirring in the salt. Transfer to containers and refrigerate. Stays good for a little over a week. Makes 3 1/2 to 4 cups. 

Shrimp With White Bean Stew

Not sure why I haven't added this before. Make it all the time for weekday dinner. Fast and easy. I like using Better than Bouillon for the clam juice/fish stock ingredient. Easy to keep on hand and relatively inexpensive. It can be hard to find. Thinking of trying Minor's fish stock base from Amazon.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
3 cups cooked cannellini beans, drained and rinsed if canned
One 14-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, drained and crushed
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
4 cups clam broth or fish stock (I use clam base from better than bouillon)
1 pound medium shrimp, shelled and deveined
1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions
Heat oil in a dutch oven.
Saute onion and garlic for about 5 minutes.
Add cannellini beans, tomatoes, salt, rosemary and pepper.
Add clam broth and bring everything to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.
Add shrimp and simmer till just done, about 2 minutes.
Add chopped parsley when you serve in bowl.