Easy Chips & Salsa recipes

In my many years living in Texas, I've craved for many different styles of salsa.  But the one I loved the most was from a restaurant I used to wait tables at, called #Tia's #Tex-Mex.  They've long since closed down, but I finally decided to sit down and figure out what it was about it I loved the most.  It was the freshness, and the abundance of cilantro they used.  Some people don't like it at all, many stating a soapy taste.  But in Tex-Mex cooking, this herb is like chervil for the French, or Basil to Italians - it's in everything!  Down here in Texas, even the street tacos come with a topping of chopped onions and cilantro.
There aren't any quality fresh tomatoes I can get to at the moment, so I decided to try my hand at using diced tomatoes.  The only problem was the weird, canned flavor from the aluminum cans.  There's an optional addition to help abate this flavor, it's the use of baking soda.  Here's what I came up with....

Easy Salsa Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cans diced tomatoes
6-8 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
1 serrano pepper, one half deseeded, entire pepper, chopped
1/4 tsp cayenne
2 limes, juice of
1 tsp baking soda, optional

Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a food processor, and all the ingredients, excluding the salt and pepper.  Blend well, using the pulse button at least 8 times, or on high for 5-10 seconds.
2. Once the salsa is well blended, add salt to taste, I used almost 1/2 tablespoon of kosher salt, but this is entirely a personal preference.  The same seasoning step goes for the pepper.  Once both are added, blend well in the processor, tasting as you go.  Once the seasoning is to your taste, you're done.
3. Serve immediately, and refrigerate the rest.

Makes approximately 4 cups of salsa.  Fresh tomatoes and their juice can be used when in season; this will eliminate any of the odd, aluminum taste that we get from the canned tomatoes, without the use of the soda.

When I was mixing all this salsa up, Sam realized we didn't have very many tortilla chips left.  I had bought a large bag of yellow corn tortillas, so Sam decided to bake them so we could have plenty for dinner.  

How to heat up lots of tortillas at a time:
At 375 degrees, I took the tortillas and in a single layer, I placed them each a half inch apart on a cookie sheet pan.  I baked them for 4 minutes.  They were still very moist but did not fall apart like they normally would if I tried to microwave them.  And I didn't have to stand at the stove, warming them up on our large cast iron skillet, although they are delicious that way.  
How to make chips out of corn tortillas:
Cut them into the shapes you want, and bake them for 7-10 minutes at 375 degrees, checking them at 7 minutes.  You're looking for a dry chip, with a light golden brown color.  Cool them before eating.