now before purists jump down my throat i would like to remind you that salsa’s literal translation is ’sauce’.  so there.  now this was an accidental discovery.  my #1 favorite salsa of all time is newman’s own black bean and corn salsa, but recently we were making a recipe for enchiladas and had some left over.  it’s more like we had the equivalent of 2 bottles of sauce left over, but who’s checking account is counting?  certainly not mine.

the recipe called for an equal combination of red and green sauces and since we had a bunch leftover i just tossed it into a bowl and covered it with plastic wrap.  figuring that i would add it to some eggs and other uses, i let it sit in the chill chest.  one day i was craving chips and salsa, but alas we were out of my #1 and i was too lazy to go to the store.  i grabbed the bag of chips and dunked one into the mixed sauce and chowed down.  i was surprised to find that it was smooth, spicy, tomato-ey, a touch smokey with a hint of lime.  i really dug the flavor.  so much so that i killed the bag of chips and nearly all the sauce.  it was a winner.  and chances are if i am in the store and enchilada sauce is on sale i will grab a couple bottles to keep on hand.  it’s a smart move seeing as how 2 bottles of the sauce should cost me about $2.50 for a whole mess of sauce, or in excess of $3 per jar of salsa.