2013 – Gluten Free Living

This Homemade Pico de Gallo recipe is spectacular! I’m sure it’s one of the best you will ever eat. I’m not kidding–it is that good. And really, for a novice Tex-Mex cook like me it turned out fabulously well. I puree only a small part of the veggies giving it a little bit of a salsa feel, but it’s really pico de gallo.

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This amazing appetizer is filled with tomatoes, green onions, garlic, green pepper, orange pepper, jalapeno pepper, fresh cilantro and parsley, the juice of one lime and red pepper flakes. Homemade Pico de Gallo is F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C!!!!

Last week I wanted to make a certain recipe and it needed a chunkier salsa then what is usually sold in stores. It really needed to be more like a pico de gallo. To my shame, I have NEVER made homemade salsa or pico de gallo before. 🙁 And I’ve lived in Texas for 17 years now! I looked at a few recipes online and then went back to my own cookbook to see what recipes for salsa or hot sauce I had gotten from friends. Every recipe seemed to puree the tomatoes or use canned tomatoes (which I felt would be too soft). Neither kind would be right for this particular recipe. It needed to have body and texture, not be a goopy mess!

After looking at Kimberly’s pictures I knew I wanted to make a Homemade Pico de Gallo. But I wanted different veggies and textures than the ones from her blog. Or, for that matter, every other place else I looked.  So I decided to take the plunge and do a little creating and experimenting! Oh, am I so glad I did!

Homemade Pico de Gallo is to die for! It is SOOOOO good. And the recipe I made it for and another I used it with (to be posted in the next few days) turned out so sensationally. I will certainly be making this recipe for Pico de Gallo and the other two recipes a lot in the days to come.

I wish I could express in words just how sumptuous and flavorful this Pico de Gallo was. I could eat the stuff by the spoonful! Forget tortilla chips, forget fajitas or quesadillas to serve it with. Just give me a spoon and let me inhale the stuff! There are certain kinds of recipes like soups and salads that I can create from scratch based on what I feel like eating. But not something like this! I was so pleasantly and delightfully surprised at just how wonderful Homemade Pico de Gallo turned out to be.

This recipe has superb taste, texture, and a lot of nice kick to it since it includes jalapeno pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. Yet, it doesn’t have so much kick that your mouth swells up and you can’t use it in other recipes! I thought it was perfect. For those of you who are health conscious, Homemade Pico de Gallo, is low calorie, gluten free and vegan. In fact, it doesn’t even use oil at all! It’s also what you would refer to as “raw-vegan.” It’s terrific to serve over grilled chicken, on top of salads or with any Tex-Mex appetizer.

If you’re looking for an easy Homemade Pico de Gallo recipe this is it! Serve it as an appetizer with tortilla chips, or serve it alongside your favorite Tex-Mex entree. But whatever you do, you need to give this recipe a try soon. This is also a great way to use up garden produce, especially while tomatoes and peppers are in season. We were absolutely enthralled with my Tex-Mex version of Homemade Pico de Gallo and hope you will be too!

Homemade Pico de Gallo is absolutely marvelous. 

Homemade Pico de Gallo is such a sumptuous salsa-like recipe. Oh, my, did this ever hit the spot!

I needed something thicker with more texture than traditional salsa for this recipe. This Homemade Pico de Gallo sure did the trick. Serve it with tortilla chips or strips, or serve alongside Breakfast Burritos, Quesadillas, Fajitas, Chimichangas, Tostados, Enchiladas, or Tamales!

Here’s what I did.

Chop and dice tomatoes. 2 whopper (and I mean whopper!) tomatoes gave me 4 cups diced tomatoes. 

Add sliced green onions.

Add fresh, sliced garlic.

Add diced green bell pepper.

Add diced orange bell pepper. The contrast in the colors made this salsa very festive and pretty.  Also add finely diced jalapeno pepper. You may want to use latex gloves when cutting up the jalapeno and removing the seeds. Be careful not to touch your face–especially your eyes–with your hands. Remove gloves and wash hands thoroughly before resuming food preparations.

Add fresh cilantro torn off the stems.

Add fresh parsley, the juice of one lime, kosher salt and black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine.

Place 2 cups of the ingredients in a food processor of some kind. I used the chopper section of my immersion blender. I stuffed the mixture into the chopper. Pulse several times until the blades break down the onions, tomatoes and other vegetables infusing the flavor throughout. 

Add the pureed salsa back into the remainder of the chunky ingredients.

Stir to combine.

Serve with tortilla chips. Homemade Pico de Gallo is gluten free, raw vegan, low calorie and very healthy. It also tastes superb! Pureeing part of the pico de gallo infused so much additional flavor into the recipe. 

This is a fantastic appetizer to take along to any Mexican potluck night.

This Homemade Pico de Gallo is truly spectacular. It was fabulous with this Spaghetti Squash and Salsa recipe! The jalapeno peppers give the Pico it’s needed zip. It’s also a great accompaniment to any Tex-Mex dinner.

Here’s the recipe.

HOMEMADE PICO DE GALLO

(My own concoction but inspired from Mylia Roan’s Easy Homemade Salsa, and Christina Davidson’s, Christy’s Homemade Salsa)

This batch makes a lot of salsa, but it does keep quite a while in the refrigerator.

Each mouthful of Homemade Pico de Gallo is so succulent. It has such a wonderful kick to it. It’s also festive and colorful and great to take along to parties with a bag of tortilla chips.

Homemade Pico de Gallo is a great way to use up garden veggies. It uses tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, jalapeno peppers and fresh herbs like cilantro and parsley. We loved the way it tasted.

You may also enjoy these delicious recipes!

Easy Homemade Salsa

Layered Mexican Dip

Jalapeno Taco Party Appetizer