Time To Make The Salsa

DISCLAIMER: This is my salsa recipe, it has not been tested by the National Center for Home Food Preservation or the FDA. I have been using this recipe and canning salsa in this manner for years with no negative side effects. However if you are concerned about the acid level of your tomatoes then please follow a different recipe that uses vinegar or lemon juice.

It’s that time of year when I spend most of my time putting stuff into mason jars. Seems like I’m always putting something in a jar.

I’m really not bragging on myself but I’ve been told that I make some pretty good salsa. And I’ve been asked for the recipe many times.

So here it is….

fresh tomatoes
Vidalia onion
fresh jalapeno
fresh cilantro
whole peeled garlic cloves
salt (to taste)
cumin (to taste)

Of course the amounts you use of each ingredient will be determined by how much salsa you want to make, and also by your preferred taste. For instance perhaps you like more cilantro or garlic than I do.

The pictures above are the amount of ingredients I use to “put up” about 15 pints of salsa.

You’ll see at the top of the picture a bowl with yellow tomatoes in it. I do not use yellow tomatoes in my salsa, they just happened to be sitting there.

I think the key to this salsa recipe is chopping all the ingredients together in the food processor, instead of chopping each ingredient separately and then mixing them together.

Also, a key ingredient is cumin. Cumin has a nice earthy flavor to it, but keep in mind that a little goes a long way and you can always add more, but you can’t take it out once its in.

I do cook the salsa before I jar it. I bring it to a healthy bubble in the pot and then put the hot salsa in the jars and water bath it for 30 minutes.

Of course this salsa is wonderful fresh too and so easy to make.

So far I’ve put up 68 pints of salsa this year. That sounds like a lot, but honestly I need about 30 more to have enough for the year because it also makes a great gift.

Till next time,

Lori

The Sweetest Gift

This is what you do when a friend gives you a lovely gallon of fresh picked grapes.

This was my first time at making grape jelly, and now I know what all the fuss is about. This grape jelly taste nothing like what you would buy in the store. This grape jelly taste like a grape. It has a fresh quality to it with just a hint of tartness in the background. It’s sweet alright that’s for sure, with 13 cups of sugar in it, it ought to be.

I know I know, everybody is cutting out white sugar because it has apparently become the new poison.

Well, not me. Moderation is what I say, because now that I’ve tasted this grape jelly, I don’t want to imagine life without it and I can’t wait to smear it all over a warm buttery biscuit or a slice of warm homemade honey wheat bread. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

I used my food mill to juice the grapes, but for some reason my food mill just would not cooperate with these grapes. By the time I decided to give up my kitchen looked like a crime scene. I had grape juice all over me, all over the counters, all over the floor, all over everything.

Mother said those should be the pictures I post because it would make for a good laugh. Shouldn’t be too hard to do, because more often than not I’m making some kind of mess in the kitchen. 🙂

So this is what I did.

Grape Jelly

Rinse 1 gallon of grapes and remove stems
Put grapes in a heavy bottom pot with 1 cup of water
Smash grapes with a potato masher (while thinking about the classic I Love Lucy episode of her stomping grapes)
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes while continuing to crush and stir the grapes – You will need 8 cups of juice
Strain the juice through a fine colander then place the juice in a cool spot over night
Get your jars and lids ready (washing and sterilizing them)
Strain the juice through a double cheese cloth or you could use a clean sheet or t-shirt you’ve cut up into dish towels like I did. (now I have a lovely tie dye dish towel that will always be tie dye, so keep that in mind)
Pour the grape juice back into the heavy bottomed pot and whisk in 2 boxes of fruit pectin
Bring mixture to a full boil
Whisk in 13 cups of sugar
Bring mixture back to a boil and boil for one minute (set a timer for this – 1 minute is important)
Skim the foam top off of the jelly
Carefully ladle the extremely hot mixture into your jars
Wipe clean the rims of the jars, put lids and bands on and water bath for 5 minutes

This netted me 16 (8 ounce) jars of jelly.

I highly recommend setting one jar aside for immediate consumption.

As a matter of fact I highly recommend a celebratory peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a glass of ice cold fresh milk when your done.

Well, speaking of the sweetest gift…

The only thing that could’ve made this jelly better is my beautiful granddaughter making it with me. My punkin butt loves her some purple gravy.

Meet my punkin and peanut. Now that really is the sweetest gift!

Thank you to our friend for gifting us the lovely grapes, they will keep on giving all through the winter.

Till next time,

Lori

It’s Garden Time

The tomato seedlings are doing good. So far so good. In the past we haven’t done well with seedlings and have had to use already established plants from our local nursery. There isn’t anything wrong with that except it’s not as cost effective as starting your own. In a mode of uncertainty I planted extra thinking that if some died off then we still had a chance. Looking at them now, if all of these seedlings make it we are going to be up to our ears in tomatoes this year.

I ordered our seeds from Burpee this year and I got all organic and some heirloom varieties. I got roma, san marzano, heirloom slicers, and black cherry tomato seeds. I’m especially excited about the black cherry tomatoes.

If I’m being honest, I have to admit that in years past I’ve been guilty of not enjoying our gardens. I get so wrapped up in the process of canning and putting up the harvest that I forget to enjoy the seasons of fresh picked, sun kissed, sweet vegetables. Not this year. While I still intend to put up the harvest, more importantly I plan to enjoy all the fruits of the Z Man’s labors to the fullest all summer long, and I can’t wait!

This weekend we planned the layout of the garden and we’ll start putting stuff in the ground this week.

Oh, and on another exciting note we ordered our two piglets this weekend too. They were just born 4 days ago so it’ll be a bit before we get them. I love this time of year and just love our life. 🙂

Have a great day!

Till Next Time,

Lori

Head In The Sand…

Have you ever not done something because you were worried about the out come and perhaps being let down by it? I know I have!

Last summer was when I really got into preserving food from the gardens. More than just the usual of canning tomatoes and green beans, I really broadened my skills by buying this book…

This book has a canning recipe for anything you could imagine. And, this book has paid for itself multiple times over by feeding me and the ZMan.

One of the canning recipes I experimented with was pickled red cabbage. The reason was mainly because we had so much cabbage in the garden, and I didn’t want it to go to waste.

It wasn’t a difficult recipe but it was time consuming.

The jars turned out beautiful, but I have to admit that these jars of pickled red cabbage have set in my pantry for about seven months untouched because I was worried that it wouldn’t taste good for some reason.

I worried I would end up tossing it out and all the time and effort that went into growing and preserving the food would be wasted, ultimately leading to disappointment.

All that is another way of saying I had my head in the sand over it.

BUT, last week when I made pork chops I decided to open a jar of our pickled cabbage.

I added it to a pan with a little bacon fat, celery seed, caraway seed and honey and heated it through as you can see here.

IT WAS AWESOME!!!!

It paired perfectly with the pork chops and the sweet potato in this meal…

We will be canning more pickled red cabbage this season, and I hope that my lesson is learned about sticking my head in the sand. I’m thinking at the very least I’m getting better about it because I took a chance and started this blog.

I suppose a chance for failure is just as easily a chance at success.

Y’all Take Care!

Lori