Salsa...and not the Dacing Type...thank heavens

21 ....make that 20 bottles of restaurant style salsa sitting on my table...#1 decided he needed nachos...
the bottles are slowly making the little pop of a sealed lid sound, it secretly makes me giddy..because

we have been out of salsa for the last two months...well...if you don't count the jalapeno salsa....but there is only one in our household that can eat it...the rest of us always regret it the next day........"ooooouuuuyyyyyyyy mama"

and because i feel like i did something wonderful and brilliant and life altering by making my own salsa that is pure and good and free of preservatives and corn syrup....

pop!

i will share the recipe below that i adapted from The Pioneer Woman, man... want to be her friend...or maid...or something!!!

we have tried a variety of recipes..and we love them all, my kids drink salsa.....but this time around I wanted to mix it up.....this recipe does just that! and although it seriously took me all day to get it done...because I used fresh tomatoes...it was so worth it...just don't ask my baby back...

...and my baby back better suck it up cuz we still have green chilies to bottle, more bread and butter pickles because we are almost out..already!  freeze green  and red peppers, bottle umpteen million tomatoes.....(if we can get enough at the Day Farm), pickled beets, green beans, pickled eggs...boy, am I missing those! SERIOUSLY!  don't knock em till you tried em!  and I want to try a green tomato salsa....if I had my own garden with enough tomatoes i would probably try ketchup....maybe in the future! oh yea...and sauerkraut...love me some sauerkraut.....

but until then, chow....away!



ReNee's Restaurant Style Salsa adapted from PW

270 ounces of pureed tomatoes (I used my blender)...and this was just under 3/4 of a bushel of tomatoes
2 onions
14 Big Jims
7 jalapenos...seeds and all
8 tablespoons minced garlic
4 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons cumin
4 cups cilantro
4 tablespoons lime juice

I gave the tomatoes a water bath to skinned them,diced them and separated the seeds and as much as the juice as possible, then pureed them, along with the onions, peppers and cilantro, add all together in a good and heavy pot (tomatoes scorch easily if not watched!) along with the spices and simmer on the stove to a boiling point....

I ended up leaving my salsa on the stove on the lowest setting possible as I went to my #1's football game and then until I got the mctwins some dinner and nursed a wee one...and probably peed in there somewhere.....

I then bottled and processed for 35 minutes in a water bath.  Since there is no vinegar (you must read PW's post on this...hil-ar-i-ous!) i processed as I would regular tomatoes to be on the safe side!!  I ended up with 21 pint bottles..with one being opened immediately and one given to my sweet friend who saved my with chocolate zucchini cookies....those were good... ate them all myself and was a little put off when the kids thought they should have one....

love yer salsa guzzlin' guts!


b