Rainbow Salsa + Easy Homemade Tortilla Chips

One of the best things about the farmers market is the different varieties available.  All different kinds of tomatoes and peppers!

When I saw these orange cherry tomatoes, I knew they would have to be combined with our yellow pear tomatoes and red cherry tomatoes.

Then I realized we're growing some banana peppers, green peppers, and merlot peppers, and there was only one way to go from there:  rainbow salsa!

Check out these merlot peppers!  Deep purple.

Look, it's a rainbow! 

So everything needs to get chopped up for fresh salsa.  If you can't yet tell, I had a lot of fun taking photos.  This was a really pretty array of vegetables to photograh.

I don't put forth much effort to grow my blog, nor do I make any money from it.  I blog because I enjoy it.  Blogging is my creative outlet.  And in some ways, this salsa is my art.

But once you have salsa, you need a transportation vessel for it.  For some reason, I never connected the fact that even "healthy" tortilla chips were deep fried.  I LOVE tortilla chips.  They make it to the dinner line-up at least once a week.

So there has to be a better way, right?  Well it turns out, there is.  And it's easy.  And fast.  And you can choose any spices you want (choose garlic!).  We put them in an air-tight container and they held their crunch, but they're definitely the best when they're fresh.

Bake and eat.  With fresh salsa.  Maybe even rainbow salsa.

Rainbow Salsa
Ingredients:

• 1 c. red cherry tomatoes
• 1 c. orange cherry tomatoes
• 1 c. yellow pear tomatoes
• .5 c. red onion
• 1 merlot pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
• 2 banana peppers
• 2 limes (juice + zest)
• 2 tbs fresh cilantro
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1.  Chop everything up.
2.  Combine.
3.  Eat!

Homemade Baked Tortilla Chips (based on this)

Ingredients:

• Corn tortillas
• Any spice you want (suggested: a bit of cayenne, some garlic, smoked paprika, a light dusting of cinnamon, or cumin)

Instructions:
1.  Preheat oven to 400*F.  Prepare a pan by putting a metal cooling rack on it.
2.  Slice the tortillas into sixths (can also slice them into quarters).  Spread tortilla pieces on cooling rack.
3.  Sprinkle spice of your choice on tortilla pieces.
4.  Bake for 10 minutes.

Oh, and I promised some September goals for this week.

• Watch these videos on Climate Change: the Scientific Debate (each are ten minutes long, so you can watch a few at a time until you get through them all).
• Read an edifying book.
• Sell or give away some of the stuff I no longer use.
• Continue to preserve food through canning or freezing (more tomatoes? more pesto? apples?).
• Get ready for some September events!  I'm putting together a slideshow of a bunch of area gardens / harvests!  How fun is that?  We're also putting together a cookbook full of recipes that use mostly local foods.
• Spend a day on a lake.  Doesn't matter which one :)

Okay!  I don't know how it's September already, but I'm loving this hot weather.  I've heard rumors at work that "they" say September should be pretty warm, but the warming of the Great Lakes means we're in for a snowy fall.  And...one more photo from last night's photoshoot...