Busy Busy

A perspective photo of the salsa in the window with the morning sun streaming in the east window.

I have been so swamped at work this week, so I'm recycling photos taken over the last couple of weeks. Some I may have posted previously-if so, sorry. I added some text using brushes from Ali Edwards for designerdigitals.

You have no idea how many gourds I picked. I have another photo that shows all of them.

Cute little zinnias.

Tigger in the cottage garden.

Zinnias....so pretty....

More zinnias! I love them!

First Day of School

I love crayons! Especially that magical time of year when Walmart marks down the $1.99/box 24 count crayons to $0.25. I had a very productive weekend too! I made 7 jars of salsa plus a 2-quart freezer jar. More on that later. I have to get my turn in the shower before the other 3 kiddos wake up for the first day of school. More on that too!! Happy Tuesday!

Salsa

I learned how to peel tomatoes this year by scalding them and dipping in cold water. Check out how the skin splits and just peels right off the tomato.

I love canning. Well-let me say that another way-I love making food to put away for the future. I don't mind boiling-water canning. But it is VERY time consuming. You spend hours getting all of the equipment ready to go, 10 minutes cooking the stuff to be canned, and another hour boiling, etc. When you're finished, ultimately one jar doesn't seal correctly and your time has been wasted there. Okay-fast forward to this year. I have been working on freezer canning instead. I can concentrate on the fun part (cooking) and throw it in a jar with a screw-on lid (I think you can actually still use the glass jars for freezer canning, but we have a tendency to have things jump out of the freezer, so I prefer plastic while I still have boys living in the house.) I have also finally found a seasoning mix that is both readily available and easy to use. And the result was fantastic!

I used 6 lbs of tomatoes for my salsa. About 4 lbs or so were directly from my garden. I had to supplement with some tomatoes that I bought at the store, because I didn't want my tomatoes to go to waste while I waited for my tomatoes to ripen on the vine.


My favorite part is how easy this was. The most time consuming part was dicing the tomatoes. And it is awesome to use your own tomatoes! The only ingredients are 6lbs of tomatoes (I mixed Roma and Beefsteak), 1/2 cup of vinegar, and the seasoning packet of Mrs. Wages "Create Salsa" which is available here. I bought mine in the canning aisle at Walmart.

Here is the salsa after cooking on the stove and ready to fill jars.

5 freezer jars filled with salsa.

The recipe made EXACTLY 5 pints. Which is what it said it would make. I was impressed.
All that is necessary is to fill the jars and wait for it to cool. Then screw the lids on and pop it in the freezer. What could be easier? Well, okay, I guess if I'd just bought a jar at the store it would be easier, but it wouldn't taste the same.

Fresh salsa.

Of course we had to eat a pint with nachos to make sure it would be okay for future dinners :)