Chicken Tacos

I wanted some tacos and I had chicken thighs and we were going to be at the beach.  Some seemingly unrelated, random thoughts, melded together into this idea.  Place in crock pot for the day, while enjoying some beach time with the girls and their friend.  It was a success.  So easy!

Here is my peach salsa.  We love it with chicken.  You can find the recipe here.  I just brightened it up a bit with cilantro and green onions.

My daughter likes to put all her ingredients on her plate in a deonstructed fashion and then load up tortilla chips one at a time.

The meat was very tender and very tasty.  Totally going to make this again, as in real soon.  As my Mother would say, "That tastes like another" and proceeds to have seconds of whatever it is.

Chicken Taco Meat

8 - 10 chicken thighs
1 cup water
2 tablespoons taco seasoning or a packet of it
1 onion quartered
1 tablespoon minced garlic
pinch of oregano
1 bay leaf

Pour water in crock pot/slow cooker.
Place chicken thighs over bottom of crock.
Sprinkle taco seasoning and oregano over thighs.
Place quartered onion in different spots between the thighs.
Add bay leaf.
Cover.  Slow cook on low 5 to six hours.
Inhale amazing smell wafting through house.
When ready, remove from slow cooker. Let cool a little.
Take skin off and shred chicken with forks.
Voila, chicken taco meat ready to go.

Peach Salsa

It has been like a cannery around here.  Seriously.  Yesterday I canned another batch of peach barbecue sauce because we love it so much.  I put some in the fridge because my husband was like, "don't can it all- leave some out for now!"  I could not agree more.

I also canned this peach salsa.  I had canned it last year as well and it is nearly gone.  We discovered that we REALLY like it on rice.  Delicious.  Also, great on fish tacos! So I had to make this and yes, I doubled it because we like it that much.

The day before that I made some more of my dill relish that we blew through this past winter.  Here is a pic of my daughter turning the old fashioned grinder that I have.

Before I started canning all these I organized my canning shelf to get ready for the onslaught that is summer harvest.
 

Peach Salsa
Adapted from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.  Yield 8 pints.

12 cups chopped pitted peeled peaches
1 cup white vinegar
2 1/2 cups chopped red onion
2 large jalapeño peppers*, finely chopped. (for a mild heat with a hint of burn, remove the ribs and seeds from the jalapeños prior to chopping)
2 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped finely
1 cup loosely packed, finely chopped cilantro
4 tablespoons liquid honey
4 clove of garlic, finely chopped
3 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

Scald the peaches for one minute and peel.  Measure after you have chopped them and pitted them. ( Just to give you a rough idea, I used a little over half a peck for a double recipe).

Place vinegar in the pot first then the peaches.  The vinegar will help the peaches from turning brown too fast. Add everything else to the pot. Once everything is in, bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce the heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened (about 5-10 minutes).

Have ready previously prepared, washed and sterilized canning jars. Ladle the hot salsa mixture in, leaving a quarter inch head space. Wipe the jar rims and tighten the hot lids on to fingertip tightness.

Place the jars in a boiling water bath canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 15 minutes.

After processing, remove jars from the canner with the jar lifter and set them on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool.

*I recommend chopping up your jalapeños one by one and adding them.  Check the heat.  It will give you some indication of how hot it will be, but of course it isn't going to be through and through  your salsa yet.  I love heat and my jalapeños were super big,  I took off the ribs and seeds and ended up using only two in the whole recipe.  Plenty hot.  Not to mention you will add cayenne too.  Keep in mind you do not have to add the cayenne if you don't want a lot of heat.

Green Tomatoes and Salsa Verde

What do you do when you get a whole lot of green tomatoes at the same time?  Now that is a good question.  I have made green tomato jam before, well, actually a couple times because frankly it is just that good. But how much jam can you have?

I have made fried green tomatoes before, at least once per summer.

But now I have a new favorite with about six containers in my freezer to prove it.  Salsa verde.  Now, before you go getting your panties in a ruffle, I know salsa verde is traditionally made with tomatillos.  And yes, I make that and I love it.  But why not green tomatoes?  They are green and I turned them into sauce- thus salsa verde.

Then I used them for this great idea for zucchini and mushrooms  enchiladas.  An idea that came from here. A good idea in fact- they were quite tasty.  If you want to follow the recipe, hop on over to Closet Cooking.

I collected some ingredients that I would normally throw into tomatillo type salsa verde. But I added a few more things.

Salsa Verde, Green Tomato style
This recipe will make enough salsa that you can freeze about 3 cups of it and have some for this dish as well.  If you do not want so much, halve it or quarter it.


8 cups quartered green toamtoes
4 cloves garlic
1 large onion, chopped roughly
1 yellow bell pepper (this will help with the color)
1 jalapeno, more or less depending on your heat preference
3/4 teaspoon epazote (if you dont have this just omit)*
3/4 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon cumin seeds**
1 tablespoon oil

In a dutch oven or a heavy bottomed pot, saute onion until translucent.  Add cumin seeds and toast lightly.  Then add all the rest of the ingredients.  How easy is that.  Cover the pot and let it all cook for about an hour.  You want your green tomatoes to be tender.  Puree once it is all cooked.  Use salsa in recipes that call for salsa verde.


*  epazote is an herb used in Mexican cooking.  It is actually stink weed dried up.  It is pretty powerful stuff so you just want to use a little.  It really lends a lot of flavor and makes things taste mroe authentic.

**  cumin seeds are worth any time it takes you to find them. They are nice and fresh and give lots of flavor.  If you want them ground, just grind them in a spice grinder and voila, ground cumin with lots of POW.

Peach and Pepper Salsa

I had about 8 or 9 kinda sour nectarines in the fridge and a couple sweet peaches.  They weren't movin' real fast as they were.  I needed to do something but I didn't want anymore sweets.  Ah, yes, salsa.

I threw in a few Hungarian peppers that I picked up at the market and one jalapeño from my CSA.  Oh, yeah, and one beautifully fresh white onion from my CSA as well.  Bonus.

For salsa with peppers, I prefer the onions and the peppers to be crisp tender rather than raw.  So, I kind of did a mix of cooked and fresh. Here's what I did.

Peach and Pepper Salsa
Mix it up as you please, all peaches, all nectarines, whatever you choose.  Just don't forget the roasted peppers. If your nectarines aren't tart like mine were, throw in some lemon juice or lime juice.

8 nectarines
2 peaches
3 Hungarian peppers, roasted
1 whole white onion
1/2 jalapeño
2 cloves garlic,minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Before you cut up your peppers, roast them.  I do it right on top of the stove.  I have a gas stove so this works pretty well.  Just keep a close eye on things.  Don't walk away and prepare any margaritas just yet.  Plenty of time for that later...

In a frying pan, sauté onion in oil until translucent. Remove from pan and place in a bowl. While the onions are cooking, chop peppers. Add peppers and sauté just until they loose some of their crispiness.  Remove and add to bowl. Add salt, garlic, jalapeño, peaches/nectarines and peppers.