Quirky gifts / Pace Picante Sauce (Medium)

Went food shopping today, and saw some Ben and Jerry's Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream. Unlike a few weeks ago, I had to try it this time! Bought all the usual things, and saw some "fried ice cream" (cinnamon sticks and such - Loaded With Stuff!) - I don't think I'll try that anytime soon! Had to get something for my sister, and also some onion soup for Dianne: she likes onions a lot, so I figure this will be perfect. Yes, of course she could buy it herself, but I'm nothing if not quirky! There WAS the year I gave her sister Cindy a bunch of Post-It notes as a birthday present, and Dianne predicted that their computer would be FULL of those things in a couple days because Cindy used them a lot. Hey, I'm always one to help! Reminder: I should use my Coles coupon on at least $35 worth of stuff before it expires at the end of the month: probably after next week, heh. At least I have actual cash for stuff tonight and on the weekend. Since I spent more than $50 today, I got a free Donkey toy which retailed for $9.99! (so cool, haha)


Pace Picante Sauce (Medium)

Texan David Pace had been selling 58 different varieties of jam, jellies, and sauces from the back of his liquor store in the 1940s when he came up with a recipe for a thick and spicy tomato-based sauce he dubbed "Picante." When sales of David's new sauce took off, he concentrated all his efforts on marketing his all-natural, preservative-free product, and designed the sauce's famous hourglass-shaped jar (to keep it from tipping over). Now America's number one Mexican hot sauce brand, Pace Foods, makes it known that it still uses only fresh jalapeño peppers in the sauces, rather than the brined, less flavorful jalapeños like those canned nacho slices. Each year all the fresh jalapeños used by the company weigh in at around 30 million pounds, and the nation gobbles up around 120 million pounds of the zingy sauces. Here's a simple recipe to make a kitchen copy of the medium heat-level Pace Picante Sauce, which was the first variety David created. The mild and hot versions were added in 1981, and you'll find clones for those at the bottom of the recipe in Tidbits.

1 10.75-ounce can tomato puree
1 can full of water (1 1/3 cups)
1/3 cup chopped Spanish onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh jalapeño peppers, with seeds (3 to 4 peppers)
2 tablespoons white vinegar
rounded 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried minced onion
1/4 teaspoon dried minced garlic

1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium high heat.
2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes or until thick.
3. When cool, bottle in 16-ounce jar and refrigerate overnight. Makes 2 cups (16 oz.).

Tidbits
For the mild version of the salsa, reduce the amount of fresh jalapeños to 2 rounded tablespoons (2 to 3 peppers). For the hot variety, increase the amount of jalapeños to 1/3 cup (4 to 5 peppers).