Fresh Apricot Salsa

Confession: I’m not a super organized person.

My life usually operates on more of a see what the day brings and plan around it kind of attitude. On Monday, I usually don’t have a clear idea of what I’m doing Friday, but by Thursday night I’ve got a skeletal plan that often changes throughout the day.

This isn’t the most efficient way to live life (I’m working on it), and it really isn’t an efficient way to meal plan. Instead of looking at what I have in the refrigerator and pantry on Monday and planning out meals accordingly, I wake up Friday morning saying, “Let’s have Beef taquitos!”, then my brain says, “we don’t have tortillas or beef or salsa or chili powder!”, and I go to the grocery store for a bunch of stupid little trips throughout the week.

I have so many excuses for why I don’t plan all of my meals at one time, but the truth of it is that I just haven’t been motivated. I know that half of the stuff in my pantry is going to go bad soon, but I just keep adding more sauces and spices and sprinkles to the collection, but it seems like too much to get a handle on!

In an attempt to wrap my brain around this, I actually catalogued every single ingredient in my pantry, freezer, and fridge. It was crazy, and now when I’m meal planning, I can just look at my list and put things together that way. I’m trying to use up all of the freshest ingredients first for obvious reasons.

I have apricots, cilantro, and a garden full of cherry tomatoes and jalapeños. What else was I supposed to make, but Fresh Apricot Salsa? It’s basically just pico de gallo with fresh apricots, a little honey, and some added cayenne to combat the sweetness.

It’s so so good with seafood. Taylor and I poured it over shrimp tacos, and it was amazing. But you could pair it with any kind of fish or chicken! I can’t quite say that it would go good with something like ground beef tacos, but I haven’t actually tried it. You never know.

There are two ways I cut up my pico veggies: by hand, and by food processor. I like to mince up the aromatics (onions, jalapeño, cilantro) in the food processor, because I want those flavors to be infused in all of the salsa. I don’t want a huge piece of onion or pepper by itself. With the tomatoes and apricots, I diced them by hand into bigger pieces. They are the sweet stars of the show, and I don’t mind if I get a piece of one of those fruits by itself.

YOU can chop/mince/dice whichever part however you like it. It’s all about your personal preference. Traditionally, all the pieces are supposed to be the same size small dice, but we can break the rules if we want to!

Of course, you could forgo the seafood and just eat this by itself.

It has really strong notes of sweet, medium notes of spicy, and just a hint of smoky, peppery flavor from the cayenne! YUMMY

Don’t be worried about blanching the apricots. It’s not that hard, and it only takes a few minutes. You don’t want the chewy skin to distract from the great texture of the salsa!