Secret Recipe Club goes Tex-Mex with Quick & Easy Salsa and Baked Garlic Pita Chips

Secret Recipe Club goes Tex-Mex with Quick & Easy Salsa and Baked Garlic Pita Chips

Secret Recipe Club goes Tex-Mex with

Quick & Easy Salsa and Baked Garlic Pita Chips

Secret Recipe Club goes Tex-Mex with Quick & Easy Salsa and Baked Garlic Pita Chips

Doesn’t time fly when you are having fun, or in my case, travelling and working hard – and here I am again with my Secret Recipe Club post for May. Last month saw me share a Mexican recipe when I made some Mexican Taco Seasoning, and keeping to the Tex-Mex theme, I have made TWO recipes that are spicy and Mexican inspired this month, from my wonderful SRC partner, Chocolate and Chillies. Chocolate and Chillies is a fabulous blog filled with the most amazing recipes as well as stunning imagery – the author is Asiya, who lives in Toronto, Canada. Asiya is a stay at home mum to two boys and her family originally comes from Hyderabad in India – so expect lots of lovely Indian recipes on her site, such as Low-Fat Butter Chicken, Kali Mirchi Gosh (Black Pepper Beef), Aloo (Potato) Cutlets and Mummy’s Indian Spiced Shrimp BBQ’d. Although I had bookmarked the Low-Fat Butter Chicken to make this month, I was with my vegetarian parents for most of May and time ran out to make it……so, I turned to two of her Tex-Mex recipes, Baked Garlic Pita Chips and Quick and Easy Salsa, which was perfect for pre-drinks nibble the other night when I had friends over.

Secret Recipe Club goes Tex-Mex with Quick & Easy Salsa and Baked Garlic Pita Chips

I DO love a good salsa, but when I’m in France, it is difficult to buy and when I can buy it, it tends to be expensive, so I was pleased to find an easy and healthy version to make. One little change, my fresh coriander has faded in the recent sun and high winds, so I had to use some ground coriander with some fresh parsley instead. I have my own recipe for what I call Pitta Bread Chips, but thought that Asiya’s recipe looked very tasty with the garlic, so I decided to make a duo of her recipes, a dip and chips to dip! My pitta bread chips don’t look as brown as Asiya’s do in her photo, but they were crisp and perfect as garlicky dippers for the tomato salsa dip. I also used “Fry Light” olive oil spray, as I am on a low-fat diet right now, but it still worked a treat. In the absence of “Rotel” tomatoes, which are a North American product, I used chopped tomatoes and some chopped green chillies, as is suggested as a substitute on Asiya’s recipe post.

Secret Recipe Club goes Tex-Mex with Quick & Easy Salsa and Baked Garlic Pita Chips

Both recipes are easy to follow and if you had unexpected guests and the ingredients to hand, then these two spicy little numbers could be rustled up fairly quickly. Both recipes are shown below, but PLEASE remember to credit Asiya and Chocolate and Chillies with links if you use them, and write to Asiya to ask if you need permission to use the recipes too! (I am copying them here with links back as part of my participation in the Secret Recipe Club) I plan to make another batch of salsa soon, with some of my own tweaks……I have it in mind to use some chipotle chillies and some smoked paprika for a smoky hit. That’s it for another Secret Recipe Club reveal day, I loved delving amongst Asiya’s recipes and reading all about here – do take time to visit Chocolate and Chillies, and tell Asiya I sent you!  See you later with a slightly late meal plan and some new recipes……have a GREAT bank holiday Monday to all my British friends and readers! Karen 

Secret Recipe Club goes Tex-Mex with Quick & Easy Salsa and Baked Garlic Pita Chips

Recipes:

Baked Garlic Pita Chips

Baked Garlic Pita Chips

1 pita, cut into quarters, then each quarter cut into thirds
2 tsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced or pressed (use less if you want a milder garlic flavor)

Preheat over to 350F.  Line a baking sheet with foil.  In a large bowl toss together the pita, olive oil and garlic.  Spread on prepared baking sheet and bake for 8 minutes until nice and crisp turning half way through.

Quick and Easy Salsa

Quick and Easy Salsa

Adapted from Mountain Mama Cooks
Note: can substitute 1 14 oz can of tomatoes and 1 can of green chillies for Rotel

1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 10 oz can Rotel
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 jalapeno (I left the seeds in mine)
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cumin
small handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
juice of one lime

Add all the ingredients to a food processor and pulse till desired consistency.  Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.  Store unused salsa in fridge.

Quick and Easy Salsa with Baked Garlic Pita Chips