Garden-fresh salsa

Chips and salsa are hands down one of the best and most versatile snacks ever. They're good for everything from parties to sitting in front of the TV. But sometimes, I get tired of the runny, jarred salsas at the store and prod Mom into helping me turn out a huge batch of fresh, spicy salsa.

This is a dish that goes well with an ice cold drink and a crisp spring day. The base for the salsa is simple and easy to portion-control to your liking. It's made up of sweet grape tomatoes, hot jalapenos, some onion, and cilantro. If you like your salsa a little more red, add more tomatoes. If you like it spicier or greener, add jalapenos. 

I started out by dicing four rather large jalapenos.

Most of the spiciness comes from the seeds and the insides of the jalapeno, so I tend to scrape them out for milder salsas. Next come the grape tomatoes. I diced two cases and added them to the bowl.

For a big bowl like this one, I added a full medium-sized onion to the mix. You can eyeball it to your liking.

Next comes the lime juice. We strain the ingredients we have already to get rid of those extra fluids first.

And lastly for the base, cilantro. We add it because it smells real nice and gives the salsa a leafy look.

That's it for the base! Now for the fun part. Mom and I have tried various ingredients to (further) "spice" up our garden-fresh salsa. Some of our favorite special ingredients to add to this base are:

• Pinapple
• Apple
• Mango

You can have fun and experiment with what you like. Today, we're adding avocado to the mix.

And there you have it. A delightfully fresh, colorful, and chunky salsa ready to be enjoyed. Don't forget to refrigerate!

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