Oxnard Salsa Festival

The 15th Annual Salsa Festival happened this last weeekend. "A Salsa Festival?", you may be asking. "You mean the food or the dance?" In this case the answer is both. I have a general love for all things salsa (the food), so this festival is right up my alley. It seems that every time I turn around, Oxnard is hosting a festival. There is the Strawberry Festival, a Pirate Festival, and now I have been to the Salsa Festival.

Here is what the organizers say about the event:

"Fifteen years ago the idea for the Salsa Festival was brought to fruition by a group of downtown merchants. It began at Plaza Park in 1994 with a handful of vendors, a few bands, and salsa served around the Pagoda by local restaurants and residents. Over the years as the popularity of salsa music and dance exploded, and salsa (the sauce) became the #1 condiment in America, so grew the popularity of the Oxnard Salsa Festival as a celebration of all things salsa– the food, the music and the dance. Today, the Salsa Festival is Oxnard’s largest free community event, attracting an estimated 40,000 to 45,000 people to downtown every summer."

As you can see in this image the salsas come in every form imaginable. There is the standard pico de gallo, some tomatillo and jalapeno based salsas, and plenty of habanero peppers to go around. There are two options for the tastings. 1.) Go to the individual booths and get a free sample. 2.) Go to the tasting tent and pay $5.00 for 10 tastings and a bag of Mission Tortilla chips. I chose to do both. My favorite salsa of the day turned out to be one of the free samples outside the tent. The tent was an experience. I chose the wrong day, or at least time of day to visit. I live right on the water, so I am used to the coastal breeze being something of a constant. When I go downtown, the breeze is not so strong sometimes. It was a little warm for my taste. Add a tent to trap the heat, a large crowd and some spicy salsa, and it was a recipe for some serious discomfort. That being said, the tasting tent was pretty good.

In the tasting tent, I initially tried to avoid the chain restaurants, such as El Torrito and Acapulco. I wanted to give the little guys a chance. There were some really good salsas available. The best mild salsa had to be from a small Italian/Mediterranean restaurant called La Dulce Vita. They only served a mild, and it was a great way to cool the tongue after some of the hotter salsas. I would recommend you try it if you end up in their restaurant. I tried some of the salsas that won "best heat" and "best in show" from last year, but there was no heat to be found. Of the 30 plus salsas I tasted, only three were actually hot. Most were very mild, and some fell somewhere between medium and hot. I prefer hot salsas, but I love a good flavor. Almost all of the salsas had great flavor, and most of them were pretty unique.

Some of the small restaurants I have been to or at least have heard of were there. This included one of my favorite downtown Oxnard restaurants, the Cabo Seafood Grill and Cantina. My wife and I go here at least a couple of times a month when we can. The food is very good, as is the salsa. I asked the lady serving the salsa if she had brought the Diablo salsa which I order each time I go to the restaurant. She was pleasantly surprised that I knew what that was, but unfortunately hadn't brought it. She told me she had a new salsa to introduce, so I gave it a taste. It was really good. It could have been hotter, but the flavor was very good, and very unique to that restaurant. I will ask for it next time I visit them.

Here are some of the things festival-goers had a chance to experience:

• Seven Salsa Bands
• Salsa Tasting Tent ($5)
• International Foods
• Great Shopping – Arts, Craft, Retail & Salsa Vendors
• Salsa Recipe Contest Festival Souvenirs
• Salsa Dancing Beer & Margarita Gardens
• Kids Korner Salsa Art & Music Factory for Kids

There were so many excellent salsas available to taste. I enjoyed almost every one I tried. There were bound to be a few outliers, and this festival proved to be no exception. I did all my tastings without a beverage, so when I found a bad one, I had to rush to the next booth to get a new flavor in my mouth. I wanted to be sure I felt the heat of each one to the fullest extent possible, hence the no drink thing. As I mentioned above, there were only a few that were actually hot enough to tempt me to find a drink.

Here are my top picks from the festival:

• Spiciest Salsa (with best flavor): Hollywood Beach Salsa Company
• Spiciest Salsa (based on heat alone): El Coyote Bar & Grill
• Best Medium Salsa: Tie - El Coyote Bar & Grill, and Cabo Seafood Grill and Cantina
• Best Medium Salsa (runner up): Sal's Mexican Inn
• Best Mild Salsa: La Dulce Vita
• Best Mild Salsa (runner up): Jala-Fresca Inc. (their whole line from medium-extra hot)
• Best in Show: Hollywood Beach Salsa Company

Like I said, most of the salsas I tasted were excellent. I really enjoyed the festival. Next year I will plan ahead and bring my own chips. :) I happened to be driving by this year and am glad I stopped. Where else can you walk around tasting some of Southern California's best salsas? I hope you will join me for next year's festival. You can read more about the festival at their website: Oxnard Salsa Festival.

Slow-Cooker BBQ Tri-Tip

My wife made some really good BBQ Tri-Tip today in the slow-cooker. The recipe is pretty easy to follow. You would swear you got this meat from a professional. I was really impressed. Here are the ingredients. As always, feel free to give it a little bit of your own flavor.

• (1) Tri-Tip Steak
• Stubbs BBQ Rub (available at Vons)
• 1 bottle Trader Joe's Smoky Kansas Style BBQ Sauce

Cover the meat with a thin layer of the BBQ rub and work it into the meat. Place the meat in the slow-cooker. Pour the whole bottle of BBQ sauce on top of the meat. You can cook it at whatever temp your available time allows. We cooked it on high for 6 hours and it was still pretty tender.

The BBQ sauce we used was particularly good. I highly recommend you give it a shot. Hopefully you have a Trader Joe's near you.

Once the meat is ready you can do what you'd like with it. We made some sandwiches with a little mayo, bread & butter pickles, sliced onions, and of course extra BBQ sauce. No matter how you prepare your favorite BBQ sandwich, this meat is sure to please.

Let me know how it goes.

Guinness Tri-Tip Marinade

If you like Guinness, or good meat for that matter, this recipe is for you. People often cook with beer, but a stout the quality of Guinness can provide so much more flavor than a simple Budweiser can do. This recipe is good for one tri-tip steak. If you are grilling more than one steak, double the recipe.

• 1 bottle Guinness
• 3 tbsp Cayenne Pepper
• 2 tsp Table Salt
• 2 tbsp Black Pepper
• 4 tbsp fresh garlic
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

Start by pouring the full Guinness bottle into a mixing bowl. You want this to be your main liquid ingredient, so if you play with the recipe, try not to overpower the Guinness. Mix in all the ingredients. This probably won't smell good to you, so you don't want to go by the nose on this one. I thought it smelled great however. :)

Place the tri-tip steak in a large zip-lock freezer bag, and pour the marinade in. It should sit in the fridge at least 4 hours, if not overnight. When you are ready to cook the meat, take it out of the fridge early. You want to grill a steak from room temperature. A tri-tip is best cooked "low and slow", so you can get away with a temperature a little colder.

Spread the coals around the edge of the grill, leaving some space in the middle. I let my coals burn a little longer before I put the meat on when I grill tri-tip. You want to make sure there are no flare-ups that can burn your meat. Cook for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the steak. I turn it once at 20 minutes, again at 40 minutes, and then I rotate and flip at 50 minutes and 1 hour. This gets you a nice brown edge with a light pink center. Perfect.

I used this recipe and the flavor stayed pretty well. I could taste the Guinness in the meat. Add some flour tortillas, some fresh salsa, guacamole, onions, and (Tillamook) grated cheddar cheese, and you have a great tri-tip taco.

Be sure to let me know how this works for you. It is among my favorite grill marinades.

Extra Meaty Chili Dogs

I am a huge fan of meat, in most shapes and forms. One way to put a lot of meat in one meal is the Chili Dog. Not just any Chili Dog, but my Extra Meaty Chili Dogs.

• Hot Dogs
• Canned (or home made) Chili with or without beans
• Ground Beef
• Grated Cheddar Cheese (Tillamook is excellent)
• Red Onion
• Hot Dog Bun

The ground beef I used was leftover from tacos the night before, so it was precooked. If you are cooking the ground beef (as you probably are), start by cooking the ground beef. Season to taste. Look forward to my taco recipe for a great spice to use.

Boil the number of hot dogs desired. While the hot dogs are boiling, grate the cheese and chop the onions.

The chili cooks the fastest, so put it on the stove just before the hot dogs come to a boil.

Add the ground beef to the chili. I put roughly two cups of ground beef into two cans of Hot Hormel Chili with no beans.

Once the hot dogs are boiled and the chili heated, put the hot dog on the bun. Cover liberally with chili, and add the cheese and onions. Top with yellow mustard (I use lots of it) and if you like things spicy, add some Cholula (see my post on Cholula here).

Well, that's all there is to it. See above picture for the finished product. Enjoy.

Biscuit Pizza

When I was a kid my mom always found creative ways to make a cheap meal. There were 7 mouths to feed (including my parents), and a little money had to go a long way. One of the things she would do is have us make our own biscuit pizzas for fun. We would get to pick whatever toppings were available, from breakfast sausage, to pepperoni, to olives and mushrooms, and whatever else we had on hand. I told my wife about this idea, and she kicked it up a few notches. The recipe follows:

• Pillsbury Biscuits
• Trader Joe's Marinara Sauce
• Mozzarella Cheese
• (optional)Spicy Italian Sausage
• (optional)Pepperoni
• (optional)Fresh Basil
• (optional)Any other favorite topping

The quantities needed depends on the amount you are serving. These pizzas are as big as biscuits, so a little goes a long way.

Cook the sausage, sautee any onions or other vegetables as needed.

Take the biscuits out of the can, and spread thin like a pizza crust. Add the marinara sauce. Add toppings and cheese liberally.

Bake in oven or toaster oven until biscuits are golden/cheese is melted.

Add grated Parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper to taste and you are good to go.

This meal is really cheap and tastes great. Enjoy.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

My wife and I were in Trader Joe's the other day and they had samples of their chocolate chip pancakes. This inspired my wife to make us a batch at home this morning. We usually make our pancakes with the Bisquick Shake and Pour mix, or in today's case the Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake Mix, but I am working on coming up with our own recipe from scratch. Between the two of us with our cooking backgrounds, I am sure we can come up with something. Until then, here it is. Pretty basic, but the pancakes taste great.

We followed the recipe on the box for today's pancakes, and then added our chocolate chips. You can read the box for bigger serving sizes, but here is the recipe for 7-8 pancakes (4 inches round), or 5 pancakes a that are a little bigger.

• 1 cup pancake mix
• 3/4 cup water.
• 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Decide beforehand which surface you will cook on. We used a pan on a stove burner. The directions call for an electric griddle. Choose the method for you, grease appropriately, and you should be good to go.

Blend mix, chocolate chips, and cold water together with a wire whip. A fork works fine too. Batter should be slightly lumpy. (Do not overmix).

Pour desired amount of batter onto lightly greased pan or griddle. If you are using an electric griddle, be sure to preheat it to 375 degrees F.

Cook pancakes 1to 1-1/4 minutes per side, or until golden brown, turning only once.

That's all there is to it. A trick of the trade is to watch for the bubbles on the dough. When the pancake is ready to be flipped the first time there should be a lot of bubbles. This only works for the first flip obviously, so you have to use your judgment for the other side.

See above picture for how it should come out. This was my plate this morning before I quickly ate it up and grabbed another. These are that good. Enjoy.

Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

My wife is an avid user of allrecipes.com, and found a really good chocolate chip cookie recipe. You can find this recipe under the title Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies. We made a slight variation, as my wife is not a big fan of walnuts. We used pecans instead. One of the cool things about allrecipes.com is that you can change the serving size and it will automatically adjust your ingredient list. The default is 72 servings, so be sure to adjust as needed if you check out the page.

Without further ado, here is the recipe:

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

Thanks go to Debbi Borsick for posting this to allrecipes.com. As you can see from the above picture, our batch came out really well. These are among the best chocolate chip cookies my wife has baked.

Hot Sauce Pick - Cholula

There are a ton of hot sauces on the market. Which ones are really worth buying? There are a number of factors involved, and ultimately individual taste is what it boils down to.

Do you like it mild with good flavor, or crazy hot with a bad taste? Do you like it salty, or do you want a more mellow flavor? Is vinegar good or bad in your book? As for me, it depends on what I am eating. When I am eating microwavable chimichangas or burritos, carne asada tacos, or fajitas, I almost always go for the Cholula.

Cholula has a great flavor and packs a decent amount of heat. It could be a little hotter in my opinion, but the taste more than makes up for it. I LOVE hot sauce. I love it HOT. I am not as crazy as some people I know, but I can handle a pretty high intensity. I don't want to sacrifice taste for heat though. This is why I don't like Tabasco all that much.

Cholula has a great flavor. It is imported from Mexico, so you know it is authentic. If you are looking for something with a kick that also tastes good, give this a shot.

Tri-Tip Quesadillas

See the post "Slow-Cooker Tri-Tip Recipe" for instructions on making the meat. With every great recipe comes the chance for great leftovers. This is how I made a quesadilla from the leftovers of my slow-cooker tri-tip.

• Slow Cooked Tri-Tip
• Medium or Sharp Cheddar Cheese (I recommend Tillamook)
• Flour Tortillas
• your favorite hot sauce

Quesadillas are really basic. Butter a frying pan and place a tortilla in the pan with a low flame. Heat the tortilla briefly and add the meat. Shake the pan every so often to keep the tortilla from burning. When the meat has begun heating up, add the cheddar cheese. Fold the tortilla in half and cook on each side. The quesadilla is done when the cheese is melted. Repeat for desired number of quesadillas.

Add some hot sauce, slice into wedges, and serve.

Tri-Tip Salad Recipe

See the post Slow Cooker Tri-Tip Recipe for the meat recipe. With every great recipe comes the chance for great leftover recipes. This is how I made a great salad from the leftovers.

• Slow Cooked Tri-Tip
• Lettuce (your choice of type, We use anything but Iceberg)
• Medium or Sharp Cheddar Cheese (I recommend Tillamook)
• Red Onion (1/2 onion)
• Sour Cream
• Salsa

Chop the cheese into small cubes. Chop the onions into small chunks. Reheat the tri-tip. Spread the lettuce on a plate, and add all the ingredients in order of preference. I like to toss the salad with everything but the tri-tip, and then add the meat to the top once it is thoroughly mixed. Add the sour cream and salsa and you are good to go.

This works well with a low-carb diet.

Slow Cooker Tri-Tip Recipe

• (1) Tri-Tip steak (trimmed)
• (1) Jar of your favorite salsa (Safeway Select "Garlic Lover's" Salsa works great)
• (1) large can Sun Vista Pinto Beans
• Cayenne Pepper (to taste)
• Garlic Powder (to taste)
• Chili Powder (to taste)
• Salt and Black Pepper (to taste)

If you want to make burritos or tacos with the meat, add the following to your shopping list:

• Medium to Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• Sour Cream
• Flour Tortillas
• Hot sauce/salsa of choice

If your tri-tip isn't trimmed, then start by trimming some of the fat off. Next add some garlic powder, salt and black pepper (to taste). Put tri-tip in slow cooker. Add the jar of salsa. Drain the can of pinto beans, and add to the slow cooker.

Set the slow cooker to low, and cook for 9 hours.

Once the tri-tip is cooked, add the cayenne pepper, more garlic powder, chili powder, and more salt or black pepper, to taste.

Now that the meat is done, throw it into some flour tortillas with sour cream, cheese and salsa, and you have yourself a fantastic burrito.

I am particularly fond of this one, so be sure to tell me how you like it.

Macaroni Salad - Surfer J's Family Recipe

• Salad Macaroni - (1) 16oz. bag
• Del Monte Sweet Pickles - (1) 12oz. jar (you may need the juice, so don't dump it)
• Cheddar Cheese (Medium or Sharp) - About 2 cups cubed
• Hard Boiled Eggs - (6)
• Red Onion - Whole
• Black Olives - (1) can Whole, (1) can Sliced
• Mayonnaise - Amount Varies (usually 2.5-3 cups)
• Paprika - (mostly for presentation)
• Optional Ingredients - Salt or Black Pepper (to taste)

This is an old family recipe, one that has been around over 50 years. I am not a fan of Italian noodles, so if I like it, you can bet it tastes great.

Boil the eggs and noodles (in separate pots of course). The longer you cook the noodles, the less they will "drink" the mayo. (There is a fine line between cooking longer and cooking too long, so use your best judgment here). Chop the pickles into small chunks. Do not discard the pickle juice. Cube the cheese. Chop the onions into small chunks. The onions and pickles should be roughly the same size, but it is up to you. My family loves onions, so we make the chunks large.

Set aside 2 of the hard boiled eggs. They will be used as decoration/presentation. Chop the other 4 eggs with yolk into small chunks.

Once you have everything boiled and chopped, it is time to mix it up. Put the macaroni, onions, pickles, cheese, chopped eggs, and sliced olives into a large mixing bowl. Add the Mayonnaise. You want it to be creamy. Note: The noodles will soak up a substantial amount of mayo. You need to allow for this. Don't be afraid of too much mayo.

Once you have mixed the mayo in, take a taste test. Does it need salt? Does it need some pickle juice for added sweetness? Does it need more mayo? At this point, it is really up to you how you like it. Adjust the ingredients as necessary. Remember this will need to refrigerate for a while, so it won't taste quite right while it is still warm.

Once you have it ready to go, it is time to spruce it up a bit. Black olives, 2 hard boiled eggs, and Paprika are the ingredients. Slice the eggs in half length-wise. Open the can of whole Black Olives. Place the yolks on top of the salad. Slice the rest of the whites lengthwise. Place the sliced egg whites around the yolk in a flower shape. Fill any gaps with the whole olives. Sprinkle the Paprika to give it some color, and you are done.

As you can see, the hardest part of this salad is the decoration. Enjoy. Be sure to let me know how it goes.