A few weeks ago I saw an intriguing thing on Twitter. Muir Glen tomatoes asked food bloggers to contact them. So I did. And they offered me a chance to receive a free gift basket of their 2011 Limited-Edition Reserve Tomatoes. Now normally I eschew promoting products – in fact this is the first time that I've done it. But, I agreed because we love Muir Glen tomatoes. I mean, we really love them and I was excited to try a new products from them. Then I kind of forgot about it, because I had one of those weeks that was constantly surprising for its awfulness.

So on Saturday when there was a knock on the door, I answered it with trepidation. I half expected to see Pauly Shore asking if he could “crash on the couch for a couple of weeks,” or even worse Pauly D. from the Jersey Shore asking the same question.

There wasn't anyone there, but when I looked down there was a big box from Muir Glen. With the events of the previous week still rattling around my head, it looked like a gift from the gods. Even more than that – it felt like a present. An actual present! I waited for Jedd to get home from doing errands so we could open it together. When we opened the gorgeous gift basket we found 2 beautiful cans of Harvest Sunset Reserve, a blend of yellow and red tomatoes along with a can each of Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies and No-Salt Added Diced Tomatoes. They also enclosed an elegant booklet with recipes, in-which they thanked the farmers (sweet!) and a sticker of a tomato.

Having new ingredients to cook with cheered me up immensely – Jedd too. Then when Jedd left for his workshop I looked at the happy sticker of a tomato and I thought of a line from one of my favorite poems: “This foretold somehow a good night .”

And then I went into the kitchen to play with the Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies and made one of my favorite comfort foods – salsa.

A friend of mine uses canned tomatoes in her salsas, but I'd never prepared it that way. And it seemed only appropriate to try it for the first time with my first can of Muir Glen Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies.

This salsa is smoky, spicy and filled with cilantro and lime. I served it with blackened chicken on homemade tortillas with a little lettuce and cheese. It couldn't be easier to make and it's incredible. I highly recommend it.

Chipotle and Adobo Salsa with Muir Glen Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies

1 can of Muir Glen Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies

5 scallions, roughly chopped (white and green parts)

1 cup of cilantro

1 small dried chipotle pepper

1 inch of a dried adobo pepper

2 tablespoons of white vinegar

½ cup of water

3 tablespoons of lime juice

Put the peppers in a small bowl along with the water and vinegar. Microwave on high for 3 minutes. In a blender or food processor blend together the tomatoes, scallions, cilantro, peppers and lime juice along with 2 tablespoons of the water/vinegar mixture that the peppers were cooked in. Add more if the salsa seems to dry.

Makes 1 ½ cups of salsa.

(Photos by Launie Kettler)