Thirty Minute Thursdays: Creamy (but Healthy!) Salsa Dip

May calls for the celebration of many things, one of which being salsa (presumably for the connection to last week’s Cinco de Mayo). I know I should be telling you about cute breakfast-in-bed ideas for Mom and showing you pictures of gorgeous bouquets made out of sugar cookies and fondant, but let’s be real – my life right now is not ripe with delicately rolled confections and custard soaked French toast with fresh berries drizzled over it. For me, this week isn’t the week before Mother’s Day – and that’s not to say that my mom isn’t one of my absolute best friends; this week is Finals week, the week before graduation, the week of moving out of my apartment. Let’s face it – my life consists of eating oats-in-a-jar unashamedly for dinner and hoarding extra bagels from a class bagel party last week so that L doesn’t starve to death when he comes later this afternoon to stay through graduation. I haven’t gone grocery shopping in almost 2 weeks. My cupboards have exactly 3 plates and 3 bowls in it. The only cooking utensil not packed away is a cooking spatula. I still haven’t figured out how I’m going to get my last remains of broccoli and pasta out of the cooking water tonight for dinner. It’s kind of amazing that I even know what I’m doing tonight for dinner. That’s what kind of week this is for me.

So forgive my lack of recipes that would make Martha Stewart proud. It isn’t that I don’t love my Mom or don’t hope that you have the most spectacular, wonderful-food-filled time on Saturday with your mom (or kids or nieces or aunts and grandmas). It’s just that right now, this week, this salsa dip is much more representative of my life, and I just don’t have the archived recipes to pull from to pretend otherwise. This salsa dip can hardly even be considered a recipe, which is exactly how practically everything that I’m throwing together this week has been as I attempt to clear out my kitchen as much as humanly possible before move out (and graduation!) on Saturday. There are 2 ingredients – salsa and plain greek yogurt – and it’s just about as versatile as versatile can be. The flavors depend entirely on the salsa you use – mine was an Autumn Harvest and it had a decent kick to it, but you could just as easily use a milder one or a salsa verde, or potentially even a fruity homemade one if you’re feeling really gourmet. However, I think there’s something to be said for the texture of a more liquidy salsa, at least in the context of this recipe. The yogurt gives it an added creaminess and cuts the kick of the hotter salsas just a little bit.

I only made 3 tablespoons’ worth (⅛ of the recipe) and spread it in an omelet, serving it alongside a fair-but-nothing-to-write-home-about broccoli salad. It could just as easily be paired with fresh vegetables, your favorite tortilla chips (or, better yet, homemade tortilla chips), used as a replacement for ketchup or mayonnaise on your favorite sandwich – this is a condiment-dip, and should be used as such. The possibilities are endless, and it’s so crazy-easy to make that I almost can’t believe that this post is as long as it is. Don’t feel bad if you laugh when you read the recipe – at me, for being silly enough to devote an entire post to such a sorry excuse for a “recipe,” at yourself for not having thought of the combination sooner, or just in general because breaking your day up with a little laughter is not something you should need too big of an excuse for.