Cooking: Salsa (first time)

I did a variation of Chelsea Kenyon's salsa from about.com.
1. No chiles
2. 2 Roma tomatoes instead of the beefsteak tomatoes
3. 1 tbs Cilantro
4. 1/4 large Vidalia Onion
5. 1 tsp Salt
6. 1/2 squeezed lime
7. 4 cloves of garlic

I diced the tomatoes, cilantro, onion and garlic. Mixed it all together in a large bowl, and done. This was very simple to prepare.

I like my salsa spicy so I was a bit sad that I didn't have any chile lying around, but it turned out really good. I think this may have been a little heavy on the garlic and onion for some people because there was still quite a bit of kick to it. Freshness of the cilantro, onion, and garlic makes a big difference too. I just bought mine from the grocery store about 30 minutes prior to preparing.

My grocery bill:
5 tomatoes $1.51 ($0.97 / lb)
1 large garlic $0.68 ($3.99 / lb)
2 large Vidalia onions $1.71 ($0.77 / lb)
1 bunch of cilantro $1.99
4 limes $1.00

Total: $6.89

I probably used a quarter of each item. I think that made about a container of the regular salsa containers from the supermarket. So much cheaper than buying pre-made salsa. On the other hand, I like the consistency of the pre-made salsa. Mine did not seem to mix together as well and the liquid was watery so just sunk to the bottom of the bowl. I think I had to dice the tomatoes a bit finer. I probably could take out the liquid part of the tomatoes before dicing. All in all, the salsa turned out very well for my first attempt.

Sadly, the bag of chips cost $4.29 but I probably cannot make the chips at home. I wonder if the popcorn chips would taste good with salsa. Unfortunately, I didn't buy it although I was tempted since it was right in front of the checkout counter.

Reference:
http://mexicanfood.about.com/od/techniques/ss/salsastepbystep.htm