Easy, tasty salsa at home

 I was trying to find a recipe for something similar to Gina’s salsa (a well-known restaurant in Nanaimo). This isn’t quite it, but it’s not far off.

You will need to find some cans of Ro-Tel. I usually get it from Country Grocer, though I know I saw them somewhere else too. Look in the Mexican foods section. If you use mild Ro-Tel, you’ll end up with a pleasantly mildly spicy salsa. Go for original Ro-Tel or half and half if you’re into want to kick it up a notch.

Ingredients 

• 1 28oz can tomatoes (diced or whole)
• 2 10oz (284ml) cans Ro-Tel (mild or original or 1 of each)
• 1/4c chopped onion 
• 1 jalapeño, quartered, seeded, and sliced thin
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4tsp salt
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 1/4 to 1tsp sugar (more sugar = less spicy)
• 1/4tsp cumin
• 1/2c cilantro (or more!)

Method

1. Make sure you do your mincing, etc before adding onion, jalapeño, and garlic to the tomatoes
2. Throw all of the above into a food processor 
3. Pulse until it is the consistency you want (10-15X)
4. Put it in jars
5. Refrigerate at least an hour for best flavour 

This makes A LOT so you may need to give some to friends or neighbours. You can make a half batch instead. You Can freeze this, but it will get more watery, so I don’t recommend it.

Kat's delicious dumpling dipping sauce

One of our go-to lunches is the Sum-m! Sesame Ginger Dumplings from Costco (which we keep in the freezer) with dipping sauce and salad. The dumplings come with sauce but in my opinion this one is far superior! 

When we're feeling splurgy, we get the dumplings from Dumpling Drop instead. If we were really on the ball, we would make our own dumplings... it's really not that difficult! And I know, from witnessing it firsthand, that they can even be assembled by headlamp in the bow of a canoe for a truly gourmet camping meal (first night only to make sure the filling is fresh).

Ingredients:

Roughly equal parts of the following (I normally use about 1.5-2tbs I think?):

• Soya sauce
• Rice vinegar

 Slightly less but almost the same amount of:

• Sweet chili sauce 

A few drops of:

• Sesame oil

(Optional) Either a little or quite a lot of:

• Minced cilantro 

Directions:

Put all of the above into a small bowl and mix well. 

Substitutions/alternatives:

• If all you have is soya sauce and rice vinegar, then roughly equal parts of each makes a perfectly fine sauce. 
• If you don't have rice vinegar, try to use something else reasonably mild but reduce the quantity by a little bit (eg. white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar can work but don't use too much)
• If you prefer a spicier sauce that is less sweet, consider using Sambal Olek instead of the sweet chili sauce (you may want to use slightly less). Or if you want spicy and sweet, just add some in!
• The cilantro is certainly not necessary, but if you have it, it is a very nice addition!
• If you don't have the sesame oil, just omit it.
  

Awesome no-cook peanut sauce

It's from Cookie and Kate. https://cookieandkate.com/peanut-dipping-sauce/
This version is simplified a little teeny bit, so check out the original for more ideas.
It's so good. The kids love it on everything!

Ingredients

• 3/4 cups peanut butter
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar (I have replaced with apple cider but it was a bit strong - I'd reduce the quantity)
• 1/3 cup soya sauce
• 3 tbs honey
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger (or use 1.5 tsp fresh)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2-4 tbs water

Method

1. Mix everything together except the water
2. Add water as needed to get to the desired consistency. It will be a bit runny.

That's it!

Dip stuff in or add to a bland stir fry.

Make rice bowls and pour over top.

Do as you wish. Maybe don't put it on ice cream though..