“I smell Chipotle” my oldest son yelled as he came barreling up the stairs. No, but you were close and thank you for the compliment!

What he smelled was my homemade fresh tomato salsa. It is so simple to make and fresh tasting – not to mention you’re controlling the ingredients (i.e. how much salt, how fresh the veggies).

After visiting Jack & Eric’s Pirate Lemonade Stand at the Dedham Farmers Market Wednesday, I grabbed a bag of tomatoes (talk about fresh), my bell pepper and a jalapeño pepper from various DFM vendors. To get the rest of what I needed, I stopped off at Stop & Shop in Dedham and grabbed a lime and fresh cilantro. I was well on my way to making my first homemade salsa.

I went home, pulled out the food processor (if you have one, this is recommended to save yourself from a lot of chopping). Don’t forget to grab your favorite bag of tortilla chips (there’s certainly not a lack of choices these days) and you’re good for preseason Tom Brady – I mean New England Patriots, an August cookout, or family game night munchies!

Fresh Tomatoes Salsa (adapted from Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

3 cups chopped tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

1 cup onion, diced

1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

4 teaspoons chopped fresh jalapeno pepper (excluding seeds)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions: Stir the tomatoes, green bell pepper, onion, cilantro, lime juice, jalapeno pepper, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Serve with your favorite tortilla chips.

Note: I omitted the jalapeño seeds. If you want a hotter salsa, include the seeds, but this had plenty of heat sans seeds. I also omitted the cumin. If you choose to add in cumin, use 1/2 teaspoon. The salsa tastes even better the next day!