One of the biggest challenges I’ve put to myself while being stuck at home has been to eat out of my pantry before spending a lot of money on new food. What an eye-opening exercise this has been! So often, cans get pushed to the back of the cabinet and then I forget I have them… what a waste that could be. Well, not this time. I pulled out all my expired or soon-to-expire canned goods, and put them in a basket on my counter, with a goal to open and use them before I use any others.

Which brings us to today. I’m standing in front of my fridge, taking a mental inventory of what food needs to be used up quick before it turns. My eyes fell on a big bag of mini sweet peppers that I absconded from the Relish refrigerator before we shut the kitchen down last month. The peppers were looking a little wrinkly but still had some life in them. And I knew what I could make that would use up all those peppers and some of the canned goods in my “gotta use” basket… Sara's Salsa.

Ok, so it’s really a version of Cowboy Caviar, but in my family we call it “Sara's Salsa” because I used to make it all the time and once went on a long streak of bringing it to every get-together. I’ll share the real recipe with you, but in order to make it today without leaving the house to go to a store, I had to make a few ingredient swaps.

Here’s what I changed:

The recipe calls for bell peppers, but I swapped in the bag of mini sweet peppers and the 1 green bell pepper I had on hand.
I didn’t have pinto beans, so I swapped in a can of black-eyed peas from my expired basket, and supplemented with a can of cannellini beans from my pantry. Don’t be afraid to switch up your beans!
I was out of apple cider vinegar, so I swapped in ¼ cup of white vinegar and ¼ cup of lime juice.

I love shoepeg corn in this recipe because it’s small and sweet, and I had 2 cans in my basket. I’m not proud, but I will tell you that the expiration date was Oct. 2018. WHOOPS! But you know what, it’s still perfect and I’m glad I had it to use. You could also use regular corn if you don’t have shoepeg.

This salsa is good enough to serve as a side dish or relish, but my favorite way to enjoy it is with tortilla chips like a typical tomato salsa. Dig in!

SARA’S SALSA (a.k.a. Cowboy Caviar)

INGREDIENTS

1 can of Pinto Beans, rinsed and drained
1 can of Black Beans, rinsed and drained
1 can of Shoepeg (white corn), drained
1 Green Bell Pepper, chopped
1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped
1 Yellow Bell Pepper, chopped
1 Orange Bell Pepper, chopped
1 medium Red Onion, chopped
½ cup Apple Cider Vinegar
½ cup Olive Oil
½ cup Sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

Drain and rinse all beans. Drain the shoepeg corn.
In a small sauce pan, bring the sugar, vinegar and olive oil to a boil. Boil until the sugar is dissolved in the liquid. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes.
In a large bowl, mix the chopped peppers, onion, beans and shoepeg. Pour the sugar mixture over the top and gently mix until thoroughly coated.
Cover and cool in the fridge. (I like to let it sit overnight.) Before serving, give it another good mix then drain any excess liquid from the bowl.
Enjoy with your favorite tortilla chips.