The salsa roja recipe is popular. Ridiculously popular. But we had some company in town and I needed salsa fast — nigh onto immediately. Rick Bayless recipe to the rescue! This is quick and easy, and simple to tweak:

You’ll need:

• 1 to 2 fresh jalapeño chiles (my late-season ones from the garden weren’t that hot so I used 5)
• 3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice, preferably fire roasted
• 1/4 cup (loosely packed) chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• Salt

Easy steps to yum:

1. Heat an ungreased skillet over medium heat and roast the chiles and garlic, turning often until they’re splotchy and brown and soft — this takes about 10 minutes for the chiles, and 15 minutes for the garlic
2. Cool until you can handle them, then roughly chop the chiles, discarding caps, and drop into food processor
3. Peel the garlic and scoop the softened cloves into a food processor; pulse until very finely chopped
4. Add the tomatoes with their juice to the food processor then pulse until puree is coarse
5. Pour into serving dish and stir in cilantro and lime juice, and salt to taste — about 1/2-3/4 teaspoon
6. Serve and enjoy!

I recently came across this Rick Bayless recipe for simple mashed black beans. Can you ever go wrong with a Rick Bayless recipe? I’m saying no. With a little tweaking for what I had on hand and what sounded good, I ended up with this:

• 2 Tbsp. bacon drippings (I always have some in the fridge)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• Salt

In the time it took The Yankee too cook up our fajitas (more on that later), I had these done like so:

1. Put a dry skillet over medium heat and drop in three unpeeled garlic cloves; keep turning them till the skin is nice and browned and the garlic inside is soft; set aside to cool enough to handle, then remove skins
2. While the garlic is roasting, drain and rinse a can of black beans
3. Remove the pan from the heat for just a minute and drop in 2 Tbsp. bacon fat; let it melt (it will do this quickly and will also smoke quickly, thus the part about removing the pan from the heat), then drop in softened garlic and crush the cloves with a potato masher
4. Pour in can of beans and give it all a good stir to incorporate the garlic
5. After everything is heated through, use a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon to mash the beans; you’re not looking for ice-cream texture here, just smush them up a bit
6. Take the pan off the heat and add in as much water (probably 2-3 Tbsp) as is needed to be able to easily spread or spoon the beans
7. Season with salt to taste — 1/2 teaspoon or so

These are fantastic eaten as is, sprinkled with cheese, on nachos, with fajitas, with burritos… use your imagination!

McWho? These are great! Can you believe they’re not fried?

Here’s how to satisfy your french fry craving without gobbling trans fats:

All-oven method:

1. Slice a potato (or two — that above is actually just a half a potato) and let the slices soak in hot tap water for at least 20 minutes — just like the oven roasted potatoes
2. Lay them out on paper towels to dry and preheat your oven to 400F with the cookie sheet in the oven
3. When the oven is preheated, scatter the fries on the hot cookie sheet, spritz with a little nonstick spray and sprinkle with salt (or you can toss with oil and salt before they go in the oven)
4. Bake until crispy and cooked through, about 30 minutes. Preheating the cookie sheet means that it starts crisping the underside of your fries immediately, and meant that I didn’t need to turn them halfway through cooking. Bonus! Try it and see if you like the results

Par-boiling method:

1. Slice a potato or two and let the slices soak in hot tap water for at least 20 minutes — just like the oven roasted potatoes
2. Now boil the slices until just starting to soften — it took mine about five minutes
3. Spread on paper towels to dry while your oven is preheating to 400F with the cookie sheet in the oven
4. When the oven is preheated, scatter the fries on the hot cookie sheet, spritz with a little nonstick spray and sprinkle with salt (or you can toss with oil and salt before they go in the oven)
5. Bake until crispy, about 15-20 minutes

The bonus of the par-boiling method for me is that I can boil up a bunch of fries and freeze them (flash freeze in a single layer, then move to a zip top bag so they don’t become a giant clump of frozen potatoes). When The Kiddo wants fries with lunch I can pull some out to thaw while the oven preheats, then toss with olive oil and bake. He thinks he’s getting away with eating french fries; I’m getting potatoes and healthy olive oil in his tummy. It’s a win-win!

Take a look at the Rookie Chef’s version too — I love that there are so many different variations on these!

1. Cut a baking potato or a few red potatoes into bite size pieces and put the pieces in a bowl of hot tap water to soak. Let them soak at least 20 minutes, but mine sat in the water for a good 40 minutes last night and were fantastic
2. Preheat the oven to 400F, and put your potatoes in a single layer on a couple paper towels to dry
3. In a large cast iron pan melt a pat or two of butter over medium heat and add a Tbsp. or two of olive oil; adjust amounts for how much potato you’re using — you want enough butter/olive oil mixture to thoroughly coat all the potatoes
4. Pat your potatoes dry one more time and toss them into the skillet. Stir to coat with butter and olive oil, then liberally sprinkle on the spice(s) of your choice — I used Miracle Blend last night, but it’s also great with Lawry’s or dry ranch seasoning or…? Make it your own!
5. Roast at 400F for about 30 minutes, stirring or shaking around halfway through to ensure even browning. They’re done when a fork goes in easily and the edges are starting to brown

If you don’t have a cast iron pan (go get one! They’re cheap!) you can mix the potatoes, butter, olive oil and spices in a bowl, then roast on a cookie sheet. Couldn’t be easier!