salsa-time!

First day of school...oh my, this is the longest day ever!!!  3:40 cannot come soon enough!  And, that may be all I can say right now about school, until I pick up my boys, go out for ice cream {as promised - we're easing our way off of vacation-mode}, and see how it went.  Then, I can share more.

For now, I'm trying to distract from this quiet house and share with you one of my favorite recipes for this time of year.  

homemade salsa for canning
16 c. tomatoes, peeled
2 c. green peppers
3 c. onions
8 yellow peppers (the small, banana kind)
3 T. salt
1 c. cider vinegar
4 buds garlic (buds, not cloves)
3 T. sugar
hot peppers (I like a mixture, like 3 jalapeno, 3 serrano, 1 poblano)
bunch of cilantro (add at the very end - the more, the better... I think)

Before you proceed any further, make sure you have tortilla chips on hand...

Peel the tomatoes by placing them in boiling water, then plunging them in cold water - the skins come right off. Chop veggies, or let the food processor do the chopping. Place in a large pan. Simmer for 1 hr. (If you can this, I simmer less, like 30 min.) Break out your best zumba moves. Taste and tweak to your liking (you can add chili powder, more salt, more peppers, etc...) Don't forget to add the cilantro! Can or freeze.

To peel the tomatoes, place them in a pan of boiling water, stir until the skins begin to crack, then plunge them in ice cold water.  The skins peel right off.

 After all these years, my motto for canning is: 
"A few twinges of regret (coupled with some "why do I do these things???") equals a whole year of gratitude."

1 batch down.  3 to go... 

Oh, and I'm the kind of person that has to do the math on to see if it's worth it, so I added up what we spent at the farmer's market:

Bucket of organic tomatoes: $5

Onions: 50 cents

Green pepper: 50 cents (it was huge, so 1 was enough)

Hot peppers: $1

Yellow peppers: $1

This made 15 pints of salsa (plus close to a pint we ate making it :)

$8 for 16 pints of salsa.

That's 50 cents a jar!

It's worth it, people!

Have fun salsa-ing :)

{Because, if it weren't for the little things like canning salsa, I may have been happy to just pause our life a week ago and never get on with the year...but today has come.  So, we see THIS is the day the Lord has made, to rejoice and be glad in it.}