SALSAAAAAA!!

Just an FYI, my garden STUNK this year.

I don't know what I did to tick it off, but it really stunk.  

Despite my planting of various fruits and vegetables and my watering of said sproutlings and my regular pulling of weeds and adding of fertilizer, most of my plants rebelled and did pretty much nothing the whole summer.  (Thank you pumpkin friends for being the one exception.)

But, despite my garden angst, I didn't end up fruitless after all.

SWEET NEIGHBORS TO THE RESCUE!!

I really do have the best neighbors.  When I whined one night about my plight two of my less-impaired-when-it-comes-to-growing type neighbors swooped in to save the day by sharing their bounty with me.  They brought me a couple of loads of tomatoes because they are amazing.

Seriously, the best people.

Anyway, I was thrilled, so I jumped right into processing these beauties.

But, I decided to try something new (to me) this year so I plundered the internet for a sensational salsa recipe (mostly I just looked at some of my favorite sites and found a salsa recipe that lots of people rated as fabulous).

And I found a great one.  I made a few minor adjustments to help it fit our taste and off I went.

Dear Tomatoes: You are beautiful. Whole or mooshed, I really love you.

WARNING: I did have one little, horrible mishap where I chopped all my jalapeno peppers bare handed the first time around.  

This is a mistake.  DO NOT make it.  You will suffer with bright burning, sore, sad, crying hands for the rest of the night.  You might try soaking them in milk or washing them with oil, but these things will only help a baby smidge and you will be forced to writhe in pain while your children quietly laugh at you (because it is sort of funny to watch a grown woman shake her hands and whine while she does everything else all evening).

Lesson learned.  I will not repeat that adventure.

BUUUUT, it was worth it in the end because

TA DA!!!

SALSAAAAA!!

It is very tasty good and if you need a good recipe you should try this one.  Or, stop on by and I just might give you a taste.  If you are nice (which you probably are).

My Adjusted Version of the Salsa Recipe (because the first round was a bit too spicy for those of us who have tender taste buds):

8-10 cups tomatoes, peeled, chopped and drained

2 - 2 1/2 cups chopped onions

1 1/2 cups chopped green peppers

1/4 - 1/2 cups jalapeno pepper, chopped (while wearing gloves!!!) 

(1/2 cup jalapeno still leaves a bit of a kick, but is much more kind to our wimpy mouths than the original recipe which called for 1 cup per batch, 1/4 cup leaves is much more mild)

6 garlic cloves

2 tsp cumin (boy do we love cumin!)

2 tsp black pepper

1/8 cup salt

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup vinegar

1  15 oz can tomato sauce

1  12 oz can tomato paste

Put everything into a big pot and lightly boil for about 20 minutes to let it all get together and become delicious.  Seal in jars.  Then hide the jars so people don't gobble it up too quickly.  We got between 4-5 quarts with each recipe.

Hope you like it as much as we do!