Feel the Heat, Burnin' You Up, Ready or Not

I'm ever experimenting with my tomatillo salsa recipe.  Sometimes you're in the mood for a mild really green tasting tart bite.  And other times you might crave more heat and a roasted bold flavor.  Or even a more herby and garlicky raw taste.  The great thing is that they ALL taste amazing no matter which way you whip these ingredients up.  

Like I've mentioned before, you can use it as a salad dressing, as a dip, as a marinade, as a sauce over meat or eggs.  Also to flavor rice or other grains.

I think its a sin to make a batch and not use the whole thing.  As a matter of fact when I do a raw mild version, I end up drinking a cup of this down like a smoothie.

But that leads to another big benefit of adding a good hot sauce to all your meals, the heat slows your eating down.  You are forced to drink more water and therefore are satiated with less food.  There are very few calories and loads of benefits.

I used to watch my dad eat and it really was a 'process' for him.  He'd prepare his meal fairly hot, but have his extra hot, hot sauce on the side that he'd continually add in as well as loads of black pepper. But then he would usually have a couple of raw Serrano peppers to bite between chews.  He would sweat like crazy and always have a handkerchief ready at the side, wiping down and then going back in, tons of water or iced tea at the ready.  As a small girl watching this went from fascinating to gross to irritating and now more of a study.  My dad was overweight but probably more from beer then eating too much food, although he did snack a lot and loved fatty meats.  He worked so much, regular exercise wasn't an option because sleep was about all they had time for when they finally arrived home and reconciled their money from the days work at their restaurant.

Now I use the benefits of a hot sauce added to meals to slow down my own eating process and also add vibrancy.  Fortunately for me, I also share my mom's love of fresh, green and raw vegetables so I'm replacing my side of warm flour tortillas with vegetable medleys.