The End of Salsa Rationing

Every year by about June, I start taking stock of our salsa stash, which is inevitably dwindling by then. And we begin salsa rationing until all of our tomatoes and peppers are ripe and we can replenish our supply. This weekend we had our second salsa-making day, and I can safely say the days of salsa rationing are over! Our friend and fellow veterinarian Anna also has a garden that yielded TONS of hot peppers, so we decided to get together and make salsa and more hot pepper jelly. We made a couple variations, including a spicier variety and a pineapple salsa. And just because I love y'all SOOOO much, I have decided to share the coveted salsa recipe. Are ya ready? Here it is:

5 cups peppers (3 cups bell peppers, 2 cups hot):

3 cups onion
3 cups tomatoes
1 12 oz can tomato paste
1/8 cup salt
3 cloves garlic
1 cup vinegar
1 cup sugar
pinch of basil
pinch of oregano

Chop all ingredients BY HAND. (Trust me, a food chopper won't work. We've tried. It makes everything too runny and soupy and you just get sauce). Combine in a large pot:

Boil for 5 minutes.

Put in jars:

Boil jars 30 minutes to seal.
It yields about 6 pints. We made four more batches, and added more hot peppers to one batch and fresh chopped pineapple to another. The possibilities are endless.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Enjoy.

You'll never eat store-bought salsa again.

While we were making salsa, Collette was being entertained by yogurt melts. She doesn't particularly like to EAT them, although she loves to play with them. And although they say "no mess" on the label, if you have a baby that likes to put them in her mouth and then take them out and inspect them about 12 times for each melt, it can get messy. And sticky. So daddy stripped her to her diaper before letting her enjoy her snack. She seemed to appreciate it (please notice the melts stuck to her chest, ha ha!):


She also is liking her sippy cup more, once I flavored her water with a little peach juice. The sippy cup provided hours (ok, well, like, 15 minutes) of entertainment while we were canning:


In other Saturday news, I purchased new running shoes and socks (apparently the right socks are also important) this week and ran outside on Saturday morning. It was beautiful and only about 50 degrees out. Hello, fall! My tendinitis seems better and hopefully I'm almost all healed. Our 5K is next Friday evening!

Sunday we celebrated my BIL Andy's birthday. He's the big 3-0 today! Happy birthday, Andy! We enjoyed this yummy cake:

And all the kiddos enjoyed helping Andy blow out the candles:




Happy birthday, Andy!