Best Holiday Salsa Recipes

HOLIDAY SALSA

Steps:

• Pulse cranberries and sugar in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Stir together with onions, cilantro and jalapeno. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight., To serve, place cream cheese on a serving plate. Drain salsa; spoon over cream cheese. Serve with crackers or chips.

HOLIDAY PARTY BEAN SALSA

Steps:

• Prepare dressing: mix Dressing Ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, remove from heart. Cool to room temperature.
• Dump all the "Bean Part" ingredients into a large plastic bowl, pour the cooled dressing over, stir and cover.
• Allow mixture to marinate for 24 hours, stir every so often OR gently shake the covered bowl.
• Drain, spoon into a serving dish, and serve with tortilla chips.
• BRILLIANT IDEA: this is good with the tortilla chips, but it also makes a delightful serving of "beans" for a picnic or for someone's lunch.
• LEFTOVERS are even better!

CRANBERRY PEACH SALSA - HOLIDAY SALSA

Steps:

• Saute onion until opaque.
• Add garlic and saute lightly.
• Add remaining ingredients and heat thoroughly.

HOLIDAY PARTY BEAN SALSA

Steps:

• Prepare dressing: mix Dressing Ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, remove from heart. Cool to room temperature.
• Dump all the "Bean Part" ingredients into a large plastic bowl, pour the cooled dressing over, stir and cover.
• Allow mixture to marinate for 24 hours, stir every so often OR gently shake the covered bowl.
• Drain, spoon into a serving dish, and serve with tortilla chips.
• BRILLIANT IDEA: this is good with the tortilla chips, but it also makes a delightful serving of "beans" for a picnic or for someone's lunch.
• LEFTOVERS are even better!
• My note: Such pretty colors freckling the buffet or picnic table, with this salsa in the starring role! An easy-to-put-together QUICK little number that will tingle the taste buds with its perky piquant flavor combination. My mother didn't know my four brothers and I were throwing her a surprise party to celebrate her 75th birthday on December 25th (2009), but she had a slew of stuff already prepared for what she thought was a smaller Christmas party. My sis-in-law (Kim) shared this recipe with Ma, and she passed it along to me, so this is truly a family favorite--and my Dear Hubby (who usually doesn't like bean salads with vinegary-oil dressings) loved this concoction...AND my Dear Son-the-onion-hater actually thought this was pretty decent, too (even if he "had" to pick out the onjens/onions!). PREP time includes cooling time for the dressing and a 24 hour marinating period for the beans. PLAN AHEAD!!! Ma tells me that this "lasts forever" with the vinegar in there, and she added salt; I also thought it might be good to add some cilantro or a pinch of red pepper flakes.

MANUEL'S HOLIDAY SALSA

Steps:

• 1. I use a 2-quart container to mix this. Put everything into this container as it is processed. I use a food processor rather than chopping everything by hand. Process each vegetable to your desired size.
• 2. Process cilantro, garlic, and onion by pulsing, to desired size. Add to container.
• 3. Split peppers and remove stems, seeds and membranes. Wear gloves when handling the hot ones. Process all the peppers together with pulses. Don't turn this to a paste. Remove to the container.
• 4. Drain tomatoes and reserve juice. Pulse if you want a smooth salsa; or leave the chunks whole if you want it chunky. Add to the container. Mix all the ingredients together. Add some of the reserved tomato liquid if you want the salsa thinner. You can also add some sea salt if you think it needs it.
• 5. At this point, taste with a chip. If too sweet, add some vinegar - start with 2 tablespoons - and mix again. If too sour, add some sweetener - start with 1-2 tablespoons - then mix and taste again.
• 6. Once it tastes just right to you, you can make a smaller VERY HOT batch like this: Remove 1-2 cups to a separate bowl. Add in some finely chopped habañera peppers. Warn your friends which is the hot dish.