Canned Salsa

I have vivid memories of my mom canning when I was a kid.  It seemed like a huge process.

My Mr. and I went to a great fresh produce stand bought a huge bunch of tomatoes which were perfectly ripe, jalepeños, huge onions and cilantro. I decided I would make salsa and can it.  It really was a lot of work, but in the long run, it will save time and clean-up and money.


I started by making two batches of my favorite salsa recipe.  I have posted the recipe before and you can find it here:
Salsa Recipe

I roasted the vegetables on the grill this time.  It added nice smokiness.  This is the first time I have done it this way.  Give it a try!

You will notice that there are warnings on Jeff's Salsa.  This is because this batch has 8 or 9 habenaros and 10 jalepenos!  Yikes.  To be honest though, even the mild is very spicy.  You really have to taste the peppers before you use them to determine how many to put in.  Depending on the time of year, they seem to be hotter or more mild.

So, I found out that canning was much easier than I remember. Just boil the jars, fill them with the hot salsa, clean the mouth of the jar, top it with the lids and boil the jars for the amount of time indicated on the jar box. As a matter of fact, I just followed the directions on the back of the jar box.

Kids Snack Tortillas

My kids were looking for a sugary snack this morning and we had none in the house, so I came up with these fried tortillas with cinnamon and sugar.  Very uncomplicated and yummy.  I have made them before with regular tortillas, but wanted to sneak some nutrition in them, so I used multi-grain tortillas and canola oil.  I also cut them into the shape of their initials.  Along with a strawberry-banana fat-free smoothie, I think they had some great nutrition and a yummy snack.  PS... I shook the excess cinnamon and sugar off before serving.  They look pretty with a lot on though, don't you think?

Below are the tortillas I used.   The only trick is to have the oil on high so they only have to fry for about 1 minute or less on each side. That way, they get crispy and don't soak up the oil.  Just heat your oil in a frying pan (take it off the heat if it starts to smoke) and get to work!  One tortilla was enough for each boy.  I had a half of one and an ice coffee.  Great on a hot day!

Happy Summer!

Tami

Salsa Roja!

To be honest with you, I'm not much of a salsa lover. It is okay and I do eat it, but it's just okay to me. My husband, however, has some almost every day. He LOVES it... and the hotter, the better.

So, I went to Tastespotting and found one that looked like the ones he seems to love. Very dark and very smooth. One Particular Kitchen is the name of the blog where I found it. Oh... this girl and her cousin KNOW their salsas. Everyone has loved it who has had it. It started out SUPER hot the first day, but it mellowed nicely the next day. Still really spicy, but I could eat it. The heat is strong and then mellows after a few seconds. You'll love it... I know because it won me over!

I got permission from oneparticularkitchen (sorry, I don't know your name!) to post their recipe and after you get this recipe, run over to her blog and check out some of the other yummy food she has posted!

The Best Salsa Ever:
16 full size tomatoes, or nearly a produce bag full of roma tomatoes (we used roma)
2-3 yellow onions
20-25 Serrano peppers (remove caps) Note: this many peppers makes it hot. Feel free to reduce # of peppers, or scrape the seeds out of them
8-10 cloves of garlic
1-2 Tbsp salt
1-2 bunches cilantro

Half the tomatoes and onions and lay cut-side up on a cookie sheet along with the peppers and garlic.

Roast at 375 till the onions look nice and translucent and tomatoes look soft, and peppers are getting a nice char on them

Let it all cool a bit, then run through the food processor with salt and cilantro (we had to do this in two batches)

Stir it all together and eat with abandon.

If you have any questions about this salsa, be sure to go read the comments because her cousin answers a ton of them (like storing and freezing, etc.) Her pictures are much nicer than mine, so you may want to just go check them out for yourself!

Let me know if you made it and how you liked it!

Tami

Recipes to Share - Barbacoa

I will add these as I get them done! I'm supposed to be sharing 3-5 recipes. So here's the plan.


Barbacoa Tacos
Tortilla Soup
Strawberry & Goat Cheese Salad

Here is the first one. We LOVE Mexican food in our house and we LOVE soup! So many of our recipes are just that. This one has many ingredients, but the planner should help with that! Other than that, it is one you can throw into the crockpot and let it go! It is also best on day 2, but I dare you to try to keep your fingers out of there by the time it is cooked on day 1!

We have leftovers for days with this and everyone loves it.