I’m a salsa girl.  I love salsa on everything.  But I’m pretty particular about my salsas and usually whip up my own.  But there is one salsa that I’ve fallen in love with…Pace.    I mean, when Cook’s Illustrated, who I consider to be a real authority on food, even tells you that Pace Salsa is tops, you better listen.    So I use this stuff all the time including in this recipe where I tried using the salsa instead of tomatoes and YEEHAW!  These beans are good!

And just because I’m that kind of gal, the nice folks at Pace have agreed to let me giveaway a batch of this stuff for ya to use in this recipe.  Just post a link to your recipe  that will use Pace Salsa and we’ll have a drawing for a winner to get 2 jars of salsa and a cookbook. Winner will be drawn randomly on July 4.

California Beans

1 pound red kidney beans
6-8 slices bacon
1/2 pound finely chopped cooked ham
1 Onion minced
4 cloves Garlic minced
6 cups Water
1 jar Pace Pico de Gallo salsa
1/2 cup Pace Picante sauce
6 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon Dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped
1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Soak your beans overnight.  (If you forget, you can cover them with water, bring them to a boil in a large pot, turn off the heat, cover them with a lid and wait 1 hour. )  Drain and move along, li’l doggy!  (Um, sorry.)

Cook bacon and ham over medium heat in large Dutch oven until bacon is crispy.   Add the chopped onion and cook about 5 mins.   Add your garlic and cook about 30 seconds.   Now add the drained beans, 6 cups of water (beef stock is even better)  and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to med-low and cook about an hour.

Now stir in your Pace Salsa, Pace Picante sauce, sugar, mustard and salt. Continue to simmer, uncovered, until beans are completely tender and sauce is thickened, about 1 hour. Stir in cilantro and vinegar and season with salt to taste.  Turn on your fan and serve with something grilled.

        

Every Christmas, the manly men at the Christmas table all take turns spooning heapfuls of my uncle’s potent homemade horseradish onto their ham to see who is first to break out in a sweat and cry.   No one will admit he is not enough of a manly man to swallow heaping spoonfuls of the superhot stuff so each one keeps adding more until you can’t see the ham anymore buried under the pile of horseradish.

Since these manly men love all things spicy, and the kids like all things sweet, I came up with not too sweet, not too spicy slaw to go with the ham.  Everyone can enjoy this dish since you can control the heat.  Just leave a bottle of horseradish and hot sauce next to the slaw for your manly men to duke it out.

Sweet and Spicy Slaw

2 bags preshredded coleslaw mix or 8 cups shredded cabbage
2 seedless oranges, peeled and sectioned
1 red pepper, julienned
1 green pepper, julienned
1 cup of mayo (I use light mayo)
1/2 cup buttermilk
Fresh squeezed juice of 1 lime
3-5 tablespoons sugar (sugar substitute or honey can be substituted)
3-5 tablespoons of prepared horseradish
2 tsp garlic salt
2 tsp onion powder
Couple shots of Tabasco
Couple grinds freshly ground pepper

Combine the mayo, buttermilk, lime juice, sugar, horseradish, garlic salt, onion powder and pepper to taste. Toss with the cabbage or coleslaw mix and peppers.  Refrigerate at least 2 hours.  Overnight is even better.  Just before serving, add the sectioned oranges.

Have a blessed Christmas.

        

I have a confession to make. I used to be afraid to cook with chile peppers. It goes back to this one incident where I chopped some jalapeños and then rubbed my eyes. After my face exploded, I wrote myself a note never to do that again. If you haven’t done this, God bless you… you’re smarter than me. As someone with super sensitive skin, just looking at a chile can make my skin break out in a rash. And yet, spicy Tex-Mex is my favorite food. So I’ve made my peace with chiles. If I have a clean pair of kitchen gloves, I wear them. If not, I wash my hands with MILK.

I made my peace with chile peppers, and I want you to. Let’s get to know our little friend here while I pretend to remember my 9th grade Spanish.

¡Oye! Look at my green beauty! Let us get to know one another better.

• I’m a great source of Vitamin C, Vitamin A and fiber.
• I offer more flavor than heat.
• I’m also known as an ancho chile when I’m dried. I can be soaked in water and used in many of the same recipes.

See? Harmless. We’re going to pair our friends here with a good amount of cilantro which is chock full of phytonutrients. How could you want more? Healthy, cheap and quick. Here we go.

NOTE: Since we’re blending hot liquids, hold down the lid with a kitchen towel as you blend.

Want even more health? Use brown rice. Go on, I won’t say anything.

After this has simmered and is almost ready, you can add some veggies. I like to add a little cooked chicken to make this a meal. When the broth is absorbed and the rice is cooked, you’re done.

My kids like this but they temper the tiny bit of heat with a bit of sour cream or grated cheddar (I like a little queso fresco or parmesan) and a nice big glass of milk.

¡Adiós!