All That Jazz

I didn't get to the t-shirt pillows yet, sorry.

I did want to share something awesome that I discovered, though.

Recently, while in Wal-Mart's produce section, I discovered some seasoning packets called Salad Jazz on sale for 50¢. I'm a big fan of seasoning packets, so I snatched them up. With flavors like "Shallot Pepper," "Tomato Basil," "Citrus Garlic," and "Chili Lime," they were kind of hard to pass up. Annnddd, I'm glad I didn't pass them up because I'm now so super-excited about them that I can hardly stand it. I'm starting to freak out a little about what I'm going to do when my Wal-Mart sells out of them since it's hardly cost-effective to order them online.

I tried the Shallot Pepper packet first, and used it in a cucumber-tomato salad. Here's the recipe:

CUCUMBER-TOMATO SALAD
4 large cucumbers
6 roma tomatoes (or tomato variety of your preference)
¼ medium onion (vidalia or white are good)
1 packet Shallot Pepper Salad Jazz
Plain rice wine vinegar
Vegetable or olive oil
White sugar
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder

Directions:
•In a large bowl, pour in enough vinegar & oil to coat the bottom of the bowl.
•Add in Salad Jazz, garlic, & pepper; slosh around in the bowl.
•Chop up cukes, tomatoes, & onion. Toss into bowl & slosh around or stir til coated with liquid.
•Sprinkle veggies with light coating of sugar and salt, slosh around again.
•Taste liquid to make sure it's as sweet or salty as you like it; add more sugar or salt as needed.
•Cover and place in fridge for at least 24 hours -- the sugar & salt will draw out the vegetable
juices overnight; more sugar or salt may need to be added for flavor.

This stuff is REALLY good if you mix in some whole-wheat corkscrew pasta and top it with a little parmesan cheese. I somehow let my beloved BFF, Annie, convince me to give up processed foods for a week (starting last Wednesday), so I had to come up with alternatives to the pasta because I wasn't feeling like dragging out my pasta maker. I discovered that this is also delicious over a bowl of butter lettuce.

Anyway, if you can find some Salad Jazz at your local grocery -- grab it up. It's a time-saver AND it makes delicious food!