fire roasted pepper salsa - {fire}sta time!

No, no you don't need a blowtorch for this recipe. The truth is, if you have a couple veggies and a stove, you've got everything you need to make this bright & delicious spring dip! This salsa is perfect for parties and potlucks. And the best part is you can make this hours, even days in advance and it'll be perfect, maybe even better as I'll explain later. 

Roasting the peppers and the tomatoes (and even the limes) not only gives this salsa a better texture, but it makes it sweet and fruity. I know fruity is a weird adjective to describe salsa, but it's all my sleep deprived mind can produce. Get it. Produce. As in fruits and vegetables. Okay, now I'm just freestyling. Combined with the acidity of the limes and the spiciness of the jalapenos, I haven't found a salsa that is more balanced or delicious than this one. Chowtinue reading for the directions and recipe!

mexican chocolate pound cake - minus the mexican chocolate

Chocolate porn. Don't be alarmed. Chow Creations is not yet another food blog to resolve to indecency to increase traffic. We simply listen to our viewers and the viewers say more porn, food porn that is. This week, after being away for quite awhile, I return with a mexican chocolate pound cake. Rich and dense however at the same time somehow fluffy and definitely chocolatey. This cake can certainly be the subject of many ahhh's and ohhh's of the next family gathering or church potluck. 

Despite it's lack of "mexican" chocolate, we make up for it with a heaping dose of cinnamon and many other tasty flavors including coconut, buttermilk, and "american" chocolate. Well I'm not sure if any chocolate is american seeing that they all come from Brazil or Columbia or some place of that nature, but it's certainly a chocolate which has an american stamp of approval seeing that it's fortified with tons of sugar and milk. Plus I'm using chocolate that's in "chip" form and you know americans love their chips.