This is less of a recipe and more of a reminder: there are lots of things we will just pick up pre-made at the grocery store that are really easy (and cheap!) to make ourselves. I love high quality convenience foods as much as the next person – but they can come at a cost. For example, I just looked up the ingredients in a popular fresh, refrigerated salsa. It’s $5 for a 16 ounce tub, it’s not organic and in addition to tomatoes, cilantro and onion, there are added natural flavors, citric acid, sugar and xanthan gum. Contrast that to this quick fresh salsa blended at home for less money on organic ingredients and zero additives.

This week on Minnesota Live, I shared the fresh salsa I love to make. My cilantro is beautiful in the garden so I didn’t even have to buy that. When my tomatoes and peppers are ready, I could make this almost for free. But the organic versions of the rest of the ingredients are still inexpensive to pick up.

My one tip? Don’t make a huge batch unless you’re feeding a crowd. Because there are no preservatives, this salsa is best eaten within a couple of days of making it. Enjoy!

Fresh Salsa

Gather this:

• 1/2 large tomato, cut in chunks
• 1/2 small red or white onion
• about 1 cup fresh cilantro, stems and all
• 1/2 small jalapeño(more or less depending on how spicy you like your salsa!)
• the juice of 1/2 lime
• salt to taste

Do this:

Put the first four ingredients in the blender or food processor and pulse until finely chopped but not completely puréed. Pour into a serving bowl and stir in the lime juice and salt. Serve.