Salsa

I love finding recipes where the ingredients surprise me... in a GOOD way! This one had chicken bouillon. I didn't even know it was in there until she told me.  One of my co-workers would bring in salsa and everyone would flock around and dig in. I'm not a big salsa person, it has to be good. Hers was. After having it a few times, I asked her for the recipe. In typical fashion, she just gave me a list of ingredients, no measurements and I got to figure it out on my own. It really is pretty simple.

Not pictured: cilantro

You start with taking the Arbol chiles, the amount depends on how spicy you want your salsa... I used 1 1/2. 

• You boil the dried peppers in water until they are plump and soft (10 minutes)
• In a food processor, add peppers(remove seeds if you want it less spicy),  5 cloves of garlic (she uses a whole head, but I find that is too much), 1-2 tsp of chicken bouillon, 1 of the tomatoes and some juice
• pulse until well blended
• add tomatoes and cilantro and pulse just a little if you want chunkier salsa, or more if you want it smoother
• Let sit in fridge for about an hour for all the flavors to blend and enjoy. 

Ice cream sandwich dessert

I promise you that this taste so much better than it sounds. Every time I bring this somewhere, people are surprised to find out that it's ice cream sandwiches.

2 pkgs of ice cream sandwiches (I usually get Walmart brand)
1 large tub of cool whip, thawed
Hershey's chocolate syrup
Smucker's Caramel Sundae Syrup
roasted (and salted) peanuts, chopped

Layers:

• drizzle Hershey's syrup and Caramel syrup in the bottom of a 13X9 pan
• ice cream sandwiches, cut to make an even layer
• coolwhip, make sure you get it into the cracks!
• drizzle with chocolate and caramel syrups
• sprinkle with chopped peanuts
• ice cream sandwiches
• coolwhip, spread nicely

Place in freezer and freeze for at least 3 hours or more

Before serving, drizzle with syrups and peanuts.

Sausage and Peppers

This is a meal we had a lot growing up. In New York, you could get this in any pizza place. It's simple. It's delicious and it is great as leftovers with eggs the next morning. And the morning after that...

List of ingredients:
1 pkg of sweet Italian sausage
1-2 onions
4-6 red and green (yellow, orange) bell peppers
italian seasoning
garlic powder
olive oil

I almost forgot the hoagie rolls! Make sure you get a pkg! Crusty ones are best for the juices!

• preheat oven to 350 degrees
• cut the peppers and onions in long strips and put into a large bowl (it looks like a massive amount of veggies, but they cook down a lot)
• sprinkle with italian seasoning, garlic powder and olive oil
• if you have a lid for the bowl, put it on and shake it up! If not, just mix really well
• line up the sausages on one side of the pan and then dump the contents on top, try to keep the sausages uncovered. 
• place in oven and let cook for about 20-30 minutes, then stir peppers and turn sausages so that they brown. I usually stir every 15-20 minutes after that to make sure the sausages are cooked and brown

Once the sausages are done (1-1.5 hrs), serve on hoagie rolls.